A Dream You Are Yet to Dream
by MissMoony7575
Summary: Balthier finds Ashe quite annoying, but he comes to find he thinks rather differently of her twin sister, Princess Aire. Aire's POV. Follows the story of Final Fantasy XII from the beginning. BalthierOC
1. PROLOGUE

**PROLOGUE**

King Raminas waved his hand over the cot of his two baby daughters. He was announcing their birth to the people of Dalmasca, and the whole kingdom watched.

'My wife and I have had 2 beautiful babies,' he said, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulder.

'They shall carry on the legacy of the Dalmascan royalty when my time is up,' he said. 'They will rule the kingdom of Dalmasca one day, strengthen it, protect it, and let the kingdom flourish.'

'Their names have taken a while for us to decide on,' he said, as people cheered. They all wanted to know the names of the two babies.

'We have named them Ashelia and Airelia,' he said, as the crowd burst into applause. Whispers among the crowds were that of 'ohhh,' and 'what beautiful names,' and 'I'm going to call my children that!' The crowd gazed upon the two beautiful babies.

'They do have a meaning,' he said. 'After a fire, what is left?' he asked the crowd. No one answered.

'Ash and air,' he said, supplying the answer. 'I do believe that Ashe and Aire will bring good to the kingdom of Dalmasca.' The crowd cheered. They loved their king, they loved their rulers, they loved their kingdom, and the happiness seemed it would never end.

* * *

'I have a surprise for you,' said the King, and the two six year old girls jumped up with enthusiasm.

'What is it, daddy?' asked Aire.

'It's a present,' he said.

'What kind of present?' asked Ashe.

'It's very special,' he said. He held up two necklaces. They were strung on a chain of pure white gold, but it was the pendant which hung from it that was truly beautiful. It was a hollow glass heart, blown into that shape by the finest crafters in all of Ivalice. One was empty, the other had a small amount of ash in the heart.

'Pretty,' said Aire.

'Aire, Ashe, look closely. What are in the hearts?' he asked.

'One's empty, and the other has a pile of dust,' said Aire.

Raminas laughed.

'No, Aire. In one there is ash, in the other there is air. Like your names,' he said.

'Oh yeah!' said Aire. Ashe giggled.

'So do we each get one?' asked Ashe.

'Yes,' he said, handing Aire the one with ash in it and Ashe the one with air.

'Daddy, how come I get the one with ash and Ashe gets the one with air? Shouldn't it be the other way around?' asked Aire.

'No, it's meant to be that way. That way, wherever your travels take you, you will always be with your sister, no matter what.'

'Ohhh,' said Aire. 'Thanks daddy.'

* * *

As they grew, the differences between Airelia and Ashelia were becoming more and more pronounced. Firstly, in appearance. 

Ashe had very light brown hair which reached down to her neck, but Aire had darker brown hair which reached down to her waist - at her request. This was not really a beauty thing - she found it fun to whack people with her hair. Ashe and Aire had very different facial features as well; Aire's nose was more pronounced than Ashe's, and so were her cheekbones. Ashe's face was more angular, while Aire's was more curved. Aire was slightly taller than Ashe, and had longer legs and a shorter torso. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their grey eyes.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, they had very different personalities. Ashe was a very studious, analysing and political person. She longed to know how things worked, and always was looking for further knowledge. She was the kind of person who planned out everything, and thought everything over, before making a decision.

Aire was the complete opposite. She was a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, carefree and bubbly. She didn't care for studying, or knowledge - and she didn't need to know everything - in fact, she believed life was fun because of the sole fact that you never knew what was coming up next. She launched into decisions without thinking at all, and though sometimes it got her into trouble, she spent a lot less time thinking and more time having fun.

Though she was a princess, Raminas believed Airelia should learn to fight. She had taken a great liking to the arts of fighting, whereas her sister Ashelia had taken a liking to the politics of ruling a country. He would say Airelia was the brawn and Ashelia was the brains, but Airelia was not stupid. She knew things and could work things out very quickly - but she was also a lot more immature than her sister. That was probably why Ashelia was getting married and she wasn't.

Ashe and Aire had many suitors which came to the castle in hope of wooing the princess. While Ashe declined those she did not approve of gracefully, Aire always complained she didn't want to get married and would annoy, be rude to or even prank the suitors she didn't like. It was typical of her. This resulted in Ashe having all the suitors, and Aire having none. This didn't bother her, though. She never liked the idea of getting married.

In fact, when Raminas thought about it, he had named his daughters quite accurately without even knowing. Ashe was grounded, like ash is, and its movements can be predicted. Aire, however, was carefree and went wherever life took her, much like air. Air can't be counted, and in Aire's case (most of the time) counted on, and it's movements unpredictable as ever.

No one in their right mind would call them identical twins.

* * *

The Princess Airelia stood by her father, watching the army from the Archadian Empire fight the soldiers of Nabudis. 

They were also in the fight. The Princess Ashelia, her twin sister, was back in Rabanastre preparing for her wedding to Lord Rasler - Airelia and her father came to Nabudis to obtain some goods, when the Empire started to attack.

She fought bravely, but was faltering. She had cuts and bruises all over herself, and a quite serious injury on her arm. Her father noticed.

'Aire! Run, I'll take care of the rest.'

'No! I won't leave you here!'

'Aire, there is no point both of us fighting here. I will leave when we resecure Nabudis, and I will come out alive.'

'But-'

'Remember I love you, Aire. Now go.'

Aire dared not argue with her father now.

'Goodbye, father. I love you.'

She left swiftly.

* * *

News of Princess Airelia's death reached Rabanastre with unbelievable speed. The newspapers proclaimed her death far and wide, from the Archadian Empire to the Rozzarian Empire. 

The tragedy shook Dalmasca to its core, but even so, Airelia's twin sister Ashelia was wed. No one knows how she died - only the Archadian Empire had found her body, and had confirmed that it was her because on the body they had found the necklace which she wore all the time. Little did they know this was a very accurate fake. The King had made it out alive - it was so ironic that he was the one fighting, in the most danger, but it was Airelia that had died. Or so it seemed.


	2. I: She Lives

I punched the ground in frustration. The damned Empire! Lord Vayne, ruling Rabanastre? Unthinkable. Unbelievable. The Empire was starting to take over all of Dalmasca! And there was next to nothing I could do about it.

I watched the Consul's speech, which was littered with lies and deceit.

'People of Rabanastre! Is it with hatred you look upon your consul? With

hatred, you look upon the Empire?'

Well, of course it is. What, do you think we actually like the Empire? We hate the Empire! They killed our loved ones, ruined our lives and are now taking over our city!

Various boos, hisses and rude comments came from the crowd.

'GET OFF THE STAGE!' I shouted, at the top of my lungs, People around me stared, but that didn't matter. I hate him. I hate the Empire.

'There was little point in asking,' he said, looking around at the people of Rabanastre frowning at him.

'I harbor no idle hopes of frustrating that hatred. Nor shall I ask your fealty. That is due of your fallen King, and rightly so. King Raminas loved his people. Strove to bring you

peace. His was a rule worthy of your devotion. Even now, he remains among you,

protecting you.'

Damn right, you blasted man.

'His Ardor for the peace and Weal of Dalmasca falters not. I would ask only that you do your King honor. Together, let us embrace the peace His Majesty would surely desire.'

You call this peace? The Empire is hanging over Dalmasca, watching our every move, in case we step wrongly, to sever our heads from out bodies. When 'His Majesty' was still alive, that's when we had peace!

'Two years now divide us from war's bitter end.'

Caused by the Empire.

'Yet still its shadow looms over all, stifling the infant peace. A pall only you may cast off!'

Yes, easy for you to say. Let's all just 'cast off' the fact that we've lost our whole family, let's just 'cast off' the fact that we don't have any freedom anymore, let's just 'cast off' the fact that we can't ignore that and worship the Empire! YEAH RIGHT!

'Achieve but this one thing…and your hatred of me, and of the Empire, will grieve me not! I will stand fast. I will endure your hatred, suffer your slings and arrows. I will defend Dalmasca!'

Good luck enduring my hatred. Your sweet words can't fool me, Vayne. I was disgusted to see that the crowd started to smile. They believed him? The Empire ruined our lives once, who thinks they're not going to do it again?

'Here I will pay my debt!'

How are you going to pay for the death of all the people lost in the war? How are you going to pay for all the tears shed, for all the broken hearts, for all the lost dreams, for everything we've lost in the war? These things can't be repaid, especially not by the ones who brought the pain!

'I swear it now! Though King Raminas, Lady Ashe and Lady Aire are gone, they stand ever at the side of their people.'

Literally.

'In honoring peace…you do honor their memory, and to Dalmasca. What I ask, I ask plain. My hopes now rest with you.'

You liar! You don't want to defend Dalmasca, you want to claim it for the Empire - which is what is happening now.

Welcome to my life - the life of Princess Airelia, believed dead across all of Ivalice, but actually alive. I have lived, hidden, in Dalmasca ever since my sister died. When I tried to return after the attack at Nabudis, the Empire blocked my path, leaving me cut off from Dalmasca. They hoped to keep me away from Dalmasca, and therefore weaken the power of the Royal Family and cause despair to those of Dalmasca. They succeeded. I could only get back after the fall of the Royal Family. By then, the Empire had other matters to attend to and I slipped through their net. I returned to Rabanastre - to find it overrun by the Empire and no longer flourishing as it was under my father's rule. The Empire would never grant me power - even if they believed me the princess, and it seemed there was nothing I could do. I cried for Dalmasca, then, something I hardly ever do, and it was a few months before I realized there was no point crying but that I needed to take action. I took every opportunity I got to thwart the Empire, but none of my plans succeeded. Here was another opportunity - and I was determined to take it.

I learned about the banquet for Lord Vayne through overheard whispers and eavesdropped conversations. At the palace! He did not deserve to step one foot in the place I used to call my home.

The banquet for "Lord" Vayne would be the perfect time for sabotage. I knew all the secrets of the palace - it would be an easy task. Or so it seemed.

I knew how to get into the palace without anyone knowing. There was a secret passageway that Ashe and I used to sneak in and out of the castle without my father knowing to buy goods in the bazaar, go disguised as commoners, or just play hide and seek in the large areas of Rabanastre. But that was all gone now.

I headed to the Lowtown area. The secret passageway was reachable through storehouse 5, and I knew how to get there with my eyes closed. I had decided that it would be better for me not to look too much like who I really am, so I had taken some efforts to change my appearance. I never wore anything that remotely resembled what I wore as a royal, and my light brown hair was dyed black. I wore a pair of brown boots which came up to my knee - fully equipped with shin guards and the like. I wore arm guards and elbow guards - you never know when you're going to get into a fight, and people respect you more when you look a bit tougher. I wore a black top that skimmed my shoulders and a purple skirt, along with guards for various areas of the body. So I looked just like a normal person, rather than the princess I am.

I crept quietly through the waterway, coming ever closer to the castle with anticipation. My plan of attack was all planned out in my head. Sneak past the guards and Imperials, reach Lord Vayne and knock him out. I didn't have the guts to kill him even though he was taking over my beloved Dalmasca. Steal an airship from the Imperials, and cart him off to the Sandsea for the Urutan-Yensas to take care of him. I laughed to myself.

I'd learnt all the techniques of being invisible - or almost so - as a child, sneaking in and out of places forbidden to princesses. Rule no. 1 was not to talk to anybody, if possible. So I kept completely silent, except for the occasional nod and 'hm' if one of the servants talked to me. I wondered if they were a servant while I was in the castle. Rule no. 2 is to pretend you're meant to be there. So I stood around and pretended I was one of the servants, and copied the others, trying to fit in. I didn't get questioned by the Imperials. Rule no. 3 is evasion. Evade all enemies, where possible. So I stood clear of the Imperials.

I looked around and waited for my chance - someone would have to call the Imperial guarding the stairs sooner or later - so I waited. Soon enough, a boy that looked around my age with blond hair called the guard. I ran around him and up the stairs. To my surprise - he followed. I decided he was up to no good - and I should follow him.

He was quite oblivious to my presence, amazing as it is. I crept behind him and followed him. He kept on muttering 'signets'.

Signets… where had I heard that before? I thought for a while on the subject. It echoed of something from my childhood - how long ago that was. Of course! Father always talked about a rumour, though it was more like a myth, of the treasury room. A secret passageway that opens to the light of the sun… through the signet paintings! He was trying to get into the treasury room! Maybe I should follow him - I'd never actually been in there in my childhood. I was curious.

He used his technique of calling the Imperials then running as I followed him up and down the corridors, before he activated the secret passageway with the crescent stone. So it was true!

He made his way to the treasury without noticing me (again). Even though he'd worked out how to get in, this boy really was quite thick. When he entered the treasury room, I slipped ahead of him and looked around. There was a statue of a goddess, and it intrigued me. I raised my hand to touch it, and as I did, it glowed and opened her mouth. There was a piece of magicite there, so I took it. It might be worth something later. And plus, it wouldn't be stealing - because everything in the palace should really be mine anyway. Around were various artefacts, almost all of them shiny and probably worth a fortune. The blonde boy finally saw me, but I wasn't bothered.

'Who are you?' he said, holding up a mythril sword. I tried hard not to laugh - mythril swords were pretty ancient and quite weak.

'Someone,' I said evasively. He circled around me. I wasn't scared. He probably had no fighting training at all - he was holding his sword all wrong and he was too engaged with me to notice a viera creeping up on him. I smiled.

Someone pulled me back by the collar. Darn. I forgot to watch my back.

'What do we have here?' said the voice of a man. I saw the viera's eyes dart towards the magicite I was holding. I sighed. 'Quite a performance,' he said. His voice sounded slightly amused, and it was really starting to bug me.

'Who are you?' I asked angrily, trying to pull free of his grip.

'I play the leading man, who else? Fran, the magicite.' His voice was vaguely familiar.

The viera stepped away from the boy and toward me. Great, Aire. You just had to pick up the piece of magicite that the two thieves are looking for.

'I'll take that,' the viera said, holding out her hand.

'It's mine,' I said firmly.

'Yes, and when I take it from you, it'll be mine,' said the man. It was good logic, but not in my favour.

There was movement behind the door and the man let go of me. Obviously some guards had found their way to the treasury room after the secret passage opened, and they were trying to get in now. Which meant it was time to get out.


	3. II: Hover Bike Ride From Hell

I ran towards the door and opened it, to find myself in the middle of a war.

The boy, the man and the viera followed. An airship appeared and started shooting at the people who were fighting. From what I could gather, there had been an uprising from the Rabanastran citizens and they were attacking the palace. In vain, may I add.

'The Ifrit eh? That's quite an entrance. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were waiting all along,' said the man, casting his eyes to a massive airship firing deadly missiles.

He probably was right. I decided it was time to get out of the palace - there was no point sticking around now - my plan would never work.

The boy thought something along the same lines as we both started running.

'Stop running!' said the man, running after me. I ran faster, but his viera partner pulled up the hover bike in front of me. I backed up, thinking of any possible way to get out of this.

'You have something that belongs to me,' he said, in his amused tone again. I was really starting to get annoyed at this guy.

'Don't cross me,' I said, taking out my assassin's dagger and getting ready to fight.

'Feisty, are we?'

The searchlight from the Ifrit came nearer, and the man started to look a bit agitated. He started running towards me, and all of a sudden he grabs my by the waist and hoists me over his shoulder. I screamed.

'Let go!' I shouted at him.

'Keep quiet,' he said. 'Let's move, Fran!' he said, jumping onto the hover bike. The blond boy managed to get a grip on my foot.

I let out a blood-curdling scream. Here I was, holding on to some random man for dear life, someone hanging off my foot in turn, a few hundred feet above the ground.

'Keep it down, will you? Fran knows what she's doing,' he assured me, but I wasn't convinced.

I didn't want to take instructions from his, but all the same, I didn't want to bring attention to us so I shut my trap. But not for long. The hover bike started to falter and it looked as if the viera was losing control.

'What's wrong, Fran?' asked the man.

'It's not responding!' she said, agitated.

I screamed again. Yeah right she knows what she's doing!

'I don't have time for this!' he said.

'Well _you're_ not the one hanging onto some random stranger!' I shouted at him.

To make things worse, an airship started shooting at us. Fran manoeuvred the bike as best she could - but something was wrong with it.

'I can't hold on much longer!' she told the man.

'Neither!' I heard the boy shout from below. We were nearing the ground - the situation was looking dire.

'Jump!' shouted the man. He and his partner stood up - ready to jump.

And then the weirdest thing happened. The hover bike simply disappeared. Not disappeared as in, became invisible, but disappeared into thin air. And now we were falling faster than ever before. I closed my eyes and screamed.

Funnily enough, I didn't feel any pain when I finally stopped falling. Maybe I was dead. Was I in heaven? I opened my eyes slowly…

And found myself looking up into the face of the same man who got me into this mess. He'd caught me, the handsome bastard.

I jumped out of his arms as quickly as possible.

'What did you do that for?' I said, shouting at the man. He almost killed me, for God's sake!

'What, you mean saving your life?' he asked.

'No, trying to take me along with you on your hover bike ride from hell!' I shouted.

'I thought you might like to come along,' he said calmly. 'I guess we'll have to go the old-fashioned way.'

No one answered.

'Not many viera where you come from, thief?' he said to the boy, who was looking at Fran as if she was an alien.

'It's Vaan. Sorry…'

'And your name?' the man said, indicating to me.

'I'm uh, Adalia.' He looked at me for a second, and then looked away. Did he know that wasn't my real name?

'Fran is special… in that she'd partner up with a hume,' he said.

'Oh? Like a sky pirate that decides to steal through the sewers?' she said, mocking him.

That's where I'd heard his voice before. Of course! He was Balthier, she was Fran - the two most infamous sky pirates! My excitement died after that. What had I gotten myself into? I shouldn't have followed the boy and should've just carried out my plan.

'Pirates? You're a sky pirate? Do you have an airship?' said the boy in amazement.

'It's Balthier.' As I thought. 'Listen - if you ever want to see your home again, you'll co-operate,' he said to me. I wasn't going to take orders from anyone - especially not a sky pirate.

'Oh yeah? Do you wanna bet?' I held my dagger up. 'I can fight, you know. I'm not taking orders from you.'

He sighed. 'We don't have time to fight - we need to get out of here now! So just follow us and we'll negotiate later.'

I hesitated, but the only way out was the sewers and I could hardly evade him if we were in the same place.

'Fine,' I said, crossing my arms and sighing.

x.x.x

We made our way to the sewers, as I watched him carefully. I'm surprised he didn't steal more from the treasury- as a sky pirate. They were usually greedy - and he being one of the most infamous, I would expect to be one of the greediest. But he was more gentleman-like than I expected. Still, I didn't trust him.

'Something on your mind?' he said to me, looking at my troubled expression.

'A lot of things,' I replied, 'but none you need to know.'

'Hmm, good answer,' he said, smiling.

We continued on through the sewers. It was riddled with monsters - I hoped that Balthier, Vaan and Fran can fight. When Ashe and I ventured through the sewers as children, there were no monsters at all - except for the odd rat, which we demolished within seconds. Now the place was full of all kinds of creatures - some of which looked quite tough.

We walked on in silence - nobody said a word. It was awkward, really. I knew that Balthier was watching, and had his eyes on the magicite. No way he would be getting it from me.

Now, I'm not usually the kind of girl to stare at guys, but I found myself staring at Balthier.

Hard as I tried, I could take my eyes off him. As he walked, the corners of his lips were turned up, not quite a smile yet but tantalisingly close. He had an amazing charisma - even though I was meant to be angry at him for getting me into this mess, I couldn't bring myself to be. Though this could also be due to the fact that he just saved my life. His brown hair was slicked back and I spotted a number of earrings dangling from his ears. He wore a number of multicoloured rings on his hand; I made a mental note to ask him why. His face also, was a source of interest. He always seemed to be amused, and not many things seemed to bother him.

For all the trouble he'd gotten me into - this guy sure was hot.

He had a broad chest, and even under the white shirt I could see his arms were muscular. He wasn't skinny, but was definitely not fat - I couldn't see any fat at all. His face was handsome - and his eyes bright and sparkling. I found myself watching him as we walked, as much as I didn't want to.

Stupid Aire.


	4. III: Damn those Imperials

As we walked through the Garamysthe waterway, I spotted an ugly toad thing.

'Eww, what is that?' I asked, jumping back.

'No matter,' Balthier said, grabbing his gun out. He cocked the gun, took aim, and fired a round at the monster.

When the firing finished, the monster was still.

'Whoa…' I said, impressed. He simply smiled, but then his smile faded.

'For the love of God…' he said, looking at something behind me. I turned around, to find a group of half a dozen Imperials.

'There's more!' they shouted.

'Get ready…' said Balthier, putting his gun away and taking out a sword.

I took out my dagger. It should've been easy enough - I killed over 30 at the age of 16, didn't I?

It turns out that the Imperials had either gotten stronger - or I was out of practise. I hoped it was the former. We hacked away at the Imperials. I kept myself in a kind of weird rhythm - swing, block, step forward, swing, block…

Our spirits grew as the first one was defeated. The second, third and fourth Imperials went down but now we were starting to get tired. Vaan was breathing deeply, and Balthier and Fran were starting to get slower. Even I could feel the fatigue coming on.

As I was fighting the fifth Imperial, Balthier called out to me.

'Adalia! Behind you!' I didn't react quick enough, but he did, thankfully. He jumped in and blocked the Imperial's attack. I breathed a sigh of relief.

'Thank you,' I said to him.

'You owe me,' he said, finishing off the fifth Imperial just as I buried my dagger in the sixth Imperial's chest. I took it out and placed it back in my scabbard.

'Well, that wasn't too hard,' I said, but that was a lie. Everyone was taking deep breaths and I could tell we all were fatigued.

'Speak for yourself - you almost died back there,' said Balthier. 'I've known you for a few hours and I've already twice saved your life.'

'And once almost killed me,' I added.

'You still owe me,' he said, smiling.

'Yeah, no need to remind me,' I said.

'Hi-five!' said Vaan to Fran, holding up his hand, but she just looked at him as if he was a snail.

'Hi-five?' I asked Balthier. He held up a tired hand and hit mine. I laughed.

'You need to watch your back,' he said, walking towards me and patting me on the back. As he made contact with me, my heart suddenly leapt and I felt a surge of joy. What was that?

Control yourself, Aire.

Just as we were celebrating our victory, I heard voices around us.

'Stand where you are!' said someone, and I looked up to see Lord Vayne. I seethed with anger.

I stepped towards him, ready to fight. He couldn't arrest us now - just as we'd finished off the Imperials. I formed a fist with one hand and clutched my dagger with the other.

'You!' I shouted, ready to fight, but Balthier stopped me, holding me back.

'Look around,' he said. 'Now's not the time,' he whispered in my ear. I sighed.

There were a large number of Imperials who had surrounded us. They pointed their crossbows at us; I stepped back in defeat.

The only thing I could do was glare at him with anger as the Imperials stepped down and handcuffed us.

'Take them away,' said Vayne. I hated him with an unbelievable hatred. I didn't think it was even healthy to hate someone that much.

'It'll be alright,' said Balthier, as an Imperial prodded me with the blunt end of his spear, and I hoped with all my heart he was right.


	5. IV: I've Saved You

The Imperial prodded me again, as I fell behind looking around for an escape point.

'Hurry up!' he said, pushing me.

'Ok, ok, I'm going!' I said, annoyed. Apart from the fact that the Imperials had seized us, their rough treatment was really starting to get on my nerves.

'Nice way to treat a lady,' said Balthier sarcastically. I smiled - it was nice of him to defend me.

'Shut up, prisoner,' said the Imperial. I stuck my tongue out at the Imperial - my hands were handcuffed so I couldn't stick up my rude finger.

Before I could shout something rude at the Imperial, a little blonde girl came running up to us.

'Wait!' she said.

The Imperials stopped and I looked around for another escape point. I was slightly grateful for her distraction, but the Imperials were all around us and there was no way out.

A few Imperials restrained her.

'He didn't know what he was doing! You have to let him go! You have to!' she said, getting quite distressed as the Imperials tried to pull her away.

'Penelo!' said Vaan, obviously knowing the little blondie.

'Sorry. That dinner'll have to wait,' said Vaan.

'I told you!' she said, obviously upset at him but also upset that he was being taken away.

'That's enough!' said an Imperial, knocking Vaan over the head. I screamed as he fell to the floor.

'Shut it!' said another, holding his spear up dangerously.

I screamed again and obviously the Imperials thought I was too loud, or dangerous. Or both.

The last thing I heard was a shout from Balthier before the spear collided with my head as I was knocked unconscious.

x.x.x

'You're awake,' said Balthier, as I opened my eyes. I was slightly startled when the first thing I saw was his face inches from mine, but he leaned back and sat back down on a crate.

'Where are we?' I asked, looking around. We were in a dusty room, filled with crates. He was relaxed as ever.

'Prison, where else? More a dungeon, but it's really all the same.'

'No!' I said, punching the floor, which made a curious cracking noise. It was a skeleton. I screamed and jumped back. I breathed deeply. This place was creepy.

'Don't jump at every little thing,' he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. 'You'll wear yourself out. It's not even a proper dungeon. They just sealed off the bottom level of the fortress. Take a look around. We're not the first they've thrown down here.'

'Gee, that's encouraging,' I said. I looked at a curious lump on the floor. I realized it was a corpse.

I screamed.

'It's just a corpse,' said Balthier, yawning.

'_Just_ a corpse?' I asked.

'Well - we killed Imperials yesterday. What do you think happened to them, they just disappeared into thin air, and all their valuable items became neatly packed in a bag for you to pick up?' he said.

'Yeah, but - but,' I said, realizing the corpse was no different to the Imperials we had slain yesterday.

There was screaming from above us.

'Remember what curiosity killed,' said Balthier. 'This is all the water we have. Don't wear yourself out.'

I didn't move. If that was all the water we had, it was too risky to go wandering around. I noticed Vaan and Fran were missing as well.

'Where are Vaan and Fran?' I asked.

'Fran's gone looking for a way out. Vaan's exploring.'

I sat cross-legged on the floor.

'Not going anywhere?' he asked.

'No, well yes.' I said, pausing, figuring out his question. 'I'm not going anywhere,' I said. A smile twitched at the corners of his lips.

'Ah. So you're going to sit here and wait around?'

'Yes.'

'That's pretty pointless.'

'Well you're sitting here and waiting around, aren't you?'

'Actually, I was just about to go out for a walk. Care to come?'

I looked at him suspiciously. But then again, he did save me back then with the Imperial. And I didn't particularly want to be alone down here. I followed him out as we took a tour of the Nalbina prison. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, as we walked through the prison, probably a) to steer me in the right direction and b) so none of the other prisoners would try and mess with me. I was mildly grateful for that - it made me feel slightly safer - well, as safe as you can be in a prison.

'Never been in a prison before, I take it?' he said, looking at my bewildered expression. There was violence everywhere. People were fighting, swearing, arguing - it was nothing like the streets of Rabanastre.

'No.'

'You mean yes?' he said.

'Ach, you're confusing me on purpose, aren't you?' I said, slightly irritated. He grinned.

'Maybe.'

I sighed.

'You've obviously been in prison before?' I asked.

'Obviously,' he said, 'but never permanently.'

'Of course, as the infamous sky pirate.'

'Am I really that famous?' he asked. I shook my head.

'Have you _seen_ the bounty on your head?' I asked, incredulously. He didn't even know how much his head was worth.

'Yes, I have, as a matter of fact. I don't suppose they'll give me that amount of money if I turn myself in?' he said, chuckling. I laughed with him, but was soon cut off as an injured prisoner fell from overhead.

I saw Vaan a few meters away, who was also horrified. Balthier just looked on in his usual, calm, amused manner.

Two Seeq prisoners with clubs jumped down as well, and raised their clubs on the already injured prisoner.

'Don't!' I cried out. The prisoner looked at me, shaking his head.

The two Seeqs with clubs took no notice and continued to beat the prisoner, then turned to me. I gulped and fingered at my waist for my dagger, but it was gone. Balthier stepped in front of me, looking warily at the Seeqs.

Another Seeq jumped down and tried to attack us, but Balthier was too fast and pulled me out of the way.

'You really do have slow reactions,' he said amusedly, grabbing my hand and making a run for it. I had no choice but to follow, as did Vaan.

'Where are we going?' I asked him.

'It seems like a good time to leave. Fran's over there,' he said, indicating to the tall viera standing at the other end of the room

We stopped when we reached her.

'Through the oubliette, there's a way out. Only-' she said.

'Only you sense the mist,' finished Balthier. 'We'll need our weapons,' he said.

'The Magicks binding the door are strong,' said Fran.

'That's why we'll get them to open it for us,' said Balthier. 'Time to go,' he said. He grabbed my hand again and we made a run for it.

'Can you stop doing that?' I asked him, irritated. I didn't need him to hold my hand.

'Why? I've saved you from a 100 foot fall, I've saved you from the Imperials, I've saved you from getting pulverized by a Seeq - who knows what you'll need saving from next?'

I sighed and followed him.


	6. V: Traitor!

'Follow me,' said Balthier, darting across the room to the wall on the other side. He pressed his back up against the wall, and we followed.

We were shielded from the Imperials' view by a room in the middle of the large room, and I had to stifle a giggle as they rushed past, obviously looking for us, their metal shoes and armour making a clanking noise as they ran past.

We, in comparison, slinked in the shadows in perfect silence - well almost, if Vaan wasn't there. He had a lot to learn about being invisible.

'This way,' whispered Balthier, indicating to another door. I nodded and followed him. As we entered, there was a vast collection of various items and equipment.

'The prison repository of wrested items, weaponry and equipment,' said Balthier.

'So our stuff's in here?' I asked. Though I didn't need him to answer my question as I spotted my beloved assassin's dagger lying in a corner. I picked it up and slipped it into its sheath in my belt.

Balthier, Fran and Vaan did the same with their items and equipment, before we left, all of us feeling quite a bit happier.

We exited the same way, tip-toeing through the shadows to the oubliette.

As we moved on, the click clack of Imperials grew softer and farther away, so our tensions eased a bit. Too much, in Vaan's case.

The treasure chests we'd been avoiding were littered like the lies in Vayne's speech, but it was not worth opening them for risk of getting caught. Also, they made A LOT of noise if knocked over (from my experience in the palace).

Vaan - the klutz that he is, knocked one of them over.

BANG!

And with that, the Imperials' footsteps grew louder.

'You idiot!' I hissed at Vaan, who was looking at the treasure chest - shocked it could make so much noise.

'No time to argue,' said Balthier, grabbing my hand again as we made a run for it.

As we ran for our lives, the footsteps getting louder every second, hearts pounding madly in our chests, I know I was meant to be scared - but really I wasn't.

Truth is I was getting a major adrenaline rush.

I was excited - and happy at the same time. Weird things to be feeling when a bunch of Imperials are hunting you down, but there you go. I guess I'm a thrill seeker. A daredevil. And maybe I was bored after living such a boring life in Rabanastre - now that I'd gotten a taste of adventure, of excitement, I couldn't get enough.

And by then, I'd forgotten there were actually Imperials chasing us, and just thought it was a race. I rushed forward ahead of Balthier and pulled him along, grinning.

'Hurry up, slowpoke!' I said, laughing. They looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I was.

We reached the end of the corridor and came across a locked door.

'Here,' said Balthier, making his way into a hidden corner, 'hide here,' he said, indicating with his hand. I pressed my back against the wall, as the rest followed.

While we were all hiding there, I became more aware of how tall each of us was. Vaan was _short. _Shorter than me, even. And I'm a girl. I stifled a giggle, as Balthier looked at me curiously again. I looked past Vaan and saw Fran. She was the tallest, hands down. Not only was she tall because of her ears, but even without her ears, she was taller than all of us. She looked as if someone had gotten hold of her head and her toes and just pulled. Balthier, who was standing next to me, was quite a bit taller than me. Around 10 cm taller, I'd say. It wasn't _fair _how guys are going to automatically be taller than you, simply because they're guys. Except Vaan, of course.

I could hear the clanking footsteps of the Imperials, and watched them rush past us. A mage opened the locked door with a spell, and they continued on.

I smiled, waited a few seconds then followed them through the doorway.

Through the doorway was a large circular room, with an empty void in the middle. We were on the top level, and I leaned over the rail. Balthier, Fran and Vaan also stood at the edge, looking over the railing.

'Laughing while being chased by Imperials…' muttered Balthier.

'Hey,' I said, punching him lightly on the shoulder. 'It was an adrenaline rush.'

'Whatever you say,' he said. Vaan pointed to a lower level, and I looked down.

There was a judge, who just removed his helmet and started talking to a man in a cage.

'You have grown very thin, Basch,' said the judge.

I gasped. Basch, the traitor? The man who killed my father? He was sentenced to death!

'Less than a shadow. Less than a man. Sentenced to death and yet you live. Why?'

'To silence Ondore. How many times must I say it?' said Basch.

'Is that all?' asked the judge.

'Why not ask Vayne himself? Is he not one of your masters?' said Basch, in a rather taunting way.

'Ehh!' said the judge, following the long known fact that judges can't make articulate sentences for peanuts. 'We've caught a leader of the insurgence. She is being brought from Rabanastre. The woman Amalia. Who could that be?'

Amalia? That was the name Ashe used to use when we snuck out of the palace - I was Adalia and she was Amalia. A coincidence, surely. Though I couldn't help hoping my sister was still alive.

Basch was silent.

'Such a faithful hound to cling so to a fallen kingdom,' said the judge. I was about to shout out in outrage, but stopped myself. Dalmasca is _not _a fallen kingdom!

'Better than throwing it away,' said Basch.

What could he talk about throwing Dalmasca away? He _ruined_ Dalmasca!

'Throwing it away? As you threw away our homeland?' asked the judge, as he and the Imperials with him left the room, leaving the traitor hanging in his cage.

'Come on,' said Balthier, indicating for us to follow as he started descending to the steps where the traitor was. I was reluctant - I didn't want to see the bastard's face. Basch, that is. Not Balthier.

'It's the way out,' said Balthier. I sighed and followed him.

When I stood face to face with Basch, all I could feel was anger. I hated him, if possible, more than the Empire. Ok, maybe not. But he killed my father! And after that, everything went downhill for Dalmasca.

'Who's there?' he asked. I didn't answer - I could hardly talk for shaking with anger.

'This the place?' said Balthier to Fran.

She nodded in reply.

'You! You're no Imperials. Please, you must get me out-' said Basch, but I interrupted him, rage bubbling over.

'You!' I shouted. I was angry beyond belief. He ruined my life! 'Why would I _ever_ save your life? You killed my father! You ruined my life!'

'He what?' asked Balthier, looking at me curiously. In my anger, I'd forgotten they didn't know who I really was.

'He… ummm…'

'Who was your father, by the way?' asked Balthier.

'Ummm, he was…'

Balthier gave me a curious look.

'He was a knight in his squad which he had slain along with the King of Dalmasca!' I lied. Balthier looked as if he was about to laugh, but suppressed it.

'It's against my policy to speak with the dead. Especially when they happen to be kingslayers,' said Balthier, turning away.

'I did not kill him,' lied Basch.

'Yeah right!' I shouted at him. 'He's dead! YOU DESTROYED THE KINGDOM OF DALMASCA!'

At that point I think he realised there was no point trying to get me to let him out - I'd probably kill him on the spot. He turned to Vaan.

'Please, get me out. For the sake of Dalmasca.'

Stupid move. Vaan jumped onto the cage and started shouting at him as well.

'Dalmasca!? What do you care about Dalmasca!? Everything that's happened is because of you! Everyone that's died, every single one! Even my brother—YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!'

'Quiet! The guards will hear,' said Balthier.

So what if the guards will hear? I could take my revenge on the person who is responsible for the fall of Dalmasca. I could kill 100 Imperials now!

Fran looked around anxiously; obviously there were Imperials.

'I'm dropping it,' she said, flicking a switch. Basch's cage started to lower.

'Pirates without a sky.'

He jumped onto the cage - so did Fran, so I followed on the downward journey to nowhere.


	7. VI: Heroic Sky Pirate

'I'm going to kill you!' I said, as the cage fell to pieces. However, Balthier grabbed me and held me back. It was Basch's lucky day.

'Let me go!' I shouted at him, struggling. I hated Basch so much it was unimaginable.

Vaan also had the same idea. He charged at Basch and tried to punch him. Fran grabbed his arm and stopped him as well.

'AHHHHH!'

Real articulate sentence, Vaan. Much more of that and you can become a judge.

'You're wasting time,' said Balthier.

'HE KILLED MY FATHER! HE'S A TRAITOR!' I shouted.

'A traitor. I know. Stay here and fight, if you want.'

He turned to Basch. 'If you can walk, let's go.'

'I'm NOT going with him,' I protested.

'We could use another sword arm,' he argued.

'And you have it,' said Basch, standing up.

'You unbelievable, murdering, conniving TRAITOR!' I shouted.

'So they say,' said Balthier. 'But I didn't see him kill anyone.'

'My brother did,' said Vaan, quietly.

'HE KILLED MY FATHER! HE'S THE CAUSE OF THE FALL OF DALMASCA! HE'S THE REASON THE EMPIRE'S TAKING OVER!'

'I assure you, that was not the way of it,' said Basch.

'YOU KILLED HIM!' I shouted, cursing Balthier for holding me back. Basch turned to Vaan.

'Reks. He said he had a brother two years younger. I see. He meant you. Your brother. What became-'

'He's dead,' said Vaan.

'I'm sorry,' said Basch.

'YEAH RIGHT! You aren't sorry for anything you've done - or you'd be decent enough to kill yourself!'

'I am truly sorry. Allow me to tell you how it really happened.'

I stayed silent, not answering. I wanted to see what kind of lies he'd come up with.

'I remember your brother,' he said, to Vaan. Vaan looked very angry, lips pursed and hands curled into fists.

'Reks… It is my fault he died, that is true,' he said. 'But I did not kill the king.'

'Yeah right!' I said.

'It was not me. It was my twin brother, Gabranth.'

'Twin brother?' I said, in disbelief. 'That's the _oldest_ trick in the book! Who do you think is going to believe you with that pathetic lie?'

Basch ignored me and went on.

'He stole into the castle, and right as I was approaching the royal throneroom, he very nearly killed me, took my guise and killed the king - posing as me. And so I was charged - sentenced to death, and considered a traitor all throughout Dalmasca.'

'I don't believe you! YOU KILLED MY FATHER!'

'Believe what you will. But I'm sure your father would not want you to kill someone unless you knew for sure they were guilty,' said Balthier, walking away.

He had a point, and so I followed silently, turning away from Basch in disgust.

x.x.x

We went around the area, killing all the Mimics that were stealing the energy we needed to open the gates around here.

We entered a room, and then the door that we entered through closed mysteriously.

'This doesn't look good…' I said, backing up.

My feelings were confirmed when a massive Mimic Queen fell from the ceiling, shaking the ground as the energy levels started to drop dangerously.

'They're weak against ice!' shouted Balthier. 'Use your black magic!' he said, as he was getting ready a Blizzard attack. I copied, and so did Vaan, Fran and Basch.

As I was charging the attack, the Mimic Queen lashed at me with its leg, creating a deep gash in my arm.

'Ouch…' I said, but still casting the spell.

'Adalia!' called out Balthier. 'Are you alright?' he said.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm ok,' I said, charging another Blizzard spell. The Mimic Queen, much to my disdain, seemed intent on me - and only me. It completely ignored Balthier, Fran, Vaan and Basch, who were also pummelling it with Blizzard spells, but not me. It lashed out again, and another gash appeared.

I moaned in pain.

'Keep going,' I told myself.

I cast another Blizzard, and through our joint efforts I could see the Mimic Queen getting weakened by our incessant spells.

It attacked again, and this time it was too much. I screamed, and fell to the ground as the blood started oozing out.

'Adalia!' said Balthier, running over.

'Sorry,' I said feebly.

'Shush,' he said, charging up a Cure spell.

I smiled as the energy left his hand and transferred to me. I felt better immediately.

'Thanks,' I said, getting up.

'One more should do it,' he said, charging up a Blizzard. It hit the Mimic Queen, and it came crashing towards the floor as it died.

'Get out of the way!' shouted Balthier, pulling me away from the falling insect.

There was a loud thump as it hit the ground, right where I was standing a second ago.

'Are you mad?' asked Balthier.

'Maybe,' I said, still quite shocked.

The whole room around us began to shake, and looked as if it was about to fall down. A small passage out appeared, and we all dashed for the exit. Well, except for me. I couldn't really walk at this point in time.

Balthier knew this as well, so he picked me up in his arms and made a run for it. A few seconds after we were out, there was a loud bang as the building fell down a fair distance away.

'Quite the heroic sky pirate, aren't you?' commented Basch, as Balthier stood with me in his arms. He sighed, putting me down.

'Why didn't you use a potion earlier, or something?' he asked, starting to dress the wounds with bandages he'd seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

'I didn't know it was only going to target me,' I replied, flinching as the wounds stung. And then, my necklace popped out of its hiding place inside my top. The heart shaped necklace filled with ash, from my childhood. I tucked it quickly back inside my shirt, but I think Balthier saw it.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Oh, it just hurt a bit,' I lied. He looked at me for a moment, then continued with dressing the wounds. I sighed a silent sigh of relief.

'Thanks, Balthier,' I said. 'You know, for saving my life and whatnot.'

'Again,' he said, but still smiled. 'Done,' he said, standing up. I stood up, and marvelled. In a few minutes, he'd managed to dress all my wounds, bandage them and enable me to walk.

'Ah, to think Dalmascan air could taste so sweet,' said Basch. I'd learnt to trust him - sort of - as we'd gone through the passage. Maybe I believed his story, maybe I didn't - I didn't quite know what I thought yet. I'd make up my mind later.

'Where are we?' asked Vaan.

'The Estersand, by the look of it,' replied Balthier, looking out into the vast stretch of desert. 'Let's back to Rabanastre before we shrivel up.' He turned to Basch. 'By your leave, Captain.'

'Yes, the hour of my return is already over late. The people may hate me, but that does not free me of my charge.'

He walked ahead as we started to cross the Dalmasca Estersand.


	8. VII: A New Life

We reached Rabanastre with unexpected speed.

As we stood outside the east gate, we made our goodbyes to one another.

'I thank you,' said Basch.

I decided it was time to tell Basch I believed his story. I'd made up my mind on the way here - his story did have some sense to it, and he definitely didn't behave in the way I expected a murderer to.

Instead, he protected me almost as much as Balthier.

Almost.

'Ummm… Basch?' I said.

'Yes?' he asked.

'I- I just wanted to say, ummm…' I paused. He looked at me intently, wondering what I was going to say. 'Well I guess I was wrong about you,' I finally said.

He smiled.

'Thank you,' he said to me. 'That means a lot to me.'

I nodded.

'I'd avoid crowds, if I were you. In this town you're still a traitor, you know,' said Balthier.

'I know,' replied Basch. 'I would pay my respects to your brother,' he said, turning to Vaan. 'And your father,' he said to me.

Neither of us answered as Basch left without another word.

'You're a fugitive now, too. Stay low for a while. As are you, Vaan,' said Balthier.

'Thanks for the warning - but I already know,' I replied.

'Well, bye,' said Vaan, walking off. There was an awkward silence for a moment as the 3 of us just stood there, looking at each other.

'Thanks, Balthier,' I said, finally. 'You know, for saving my life around half a million times,' I said.

'You're welcome,' he said. Silence again. Curiously enough, they didn't walk away.

'What about the stone?' I asked. Balthier and Fran seem to have suddenly lost interest. Very odd, seeing as they were unbelievably set on obtaining it before. I didn't think they'd just let me walk away with it like that.

'Do what you want. That stone's ill-favoured,' said Balthier.

'We feel regret. We sought that stone and found ourselves only worry,' said Fran.

'And you, of course. You offering it?' asked Balthier.

'No!' I said, holding it close to me.

'Then why do you ask?'

'Because, it just seems odd that you were dead-set on getting that stone before, but now you have no interest in it whatsoever.'

'As I said, it's bad luck. Do what you will.'

Silence.

'Where are you going?' I asked, always the inquisitive one. I was partly hoping he'd be staying in Rabanastre. Even though he was a sky pirate and had landed me in a lot of trouble… there was something about him that made me want to see him again.

'We're going to stay in Rabanastre for a while,' he replied. I secretly cheered inside - but I didn't quite know why.

'Can I come with you?' I blurted out, before thinking. I don't know why, but I didn't want it to end at goodbye now. It would be… too soon.

'Why?' he asked. I would have expected him to say no outright or decline gracefully, but he didn't.

'I - ummm,' I said, not being able to think of a reason. Even I didn't know myself why I wanted to go with them.

'We have no further business with each other,' said Fran.

'I know…' I said, and then I realised why. All this time I'd been lying low in Rabanastre - it drove me mad but there was nothing I could do about it. As soon as I had met them, I'd been taken on an adventure - and that was what I wanted from life.

'But your life is exciting. I want part of that life, not the life of a common Rabanastran. I want that life, not the one I have now,' I said.

Balthier paused for a moment.

'You do know how to fight, and we could always use an extra sword arm…' he said.

'You will be no trouble?' asked Fran.

I shook my head, heart pounding in my chest.

'You mean yes?' teased Balthier. I laughed.

'You can come with us. Let's get going,' he said. I cheered inside, and beamed outside.

'Thanks,' I said, smiling at him as I started walking off with Balthier and Fran, almost skipping in delight. My new life had started, and it was looking bright as ever.


	9. VIII: Revealed Secret

'How old are you?' asked Balthier, as we were walking along the streets of Rabanastre.

'I'm 19,' I replied. 'You?' I asked.

'22,' he replied. I didn't ask Fran - it was taboo to ask a viera her age - their appearances were greatly deceiving; they were much older than they looked. For example, Fran looked as though she was around 25, but in actual fact she probably was nearing 100 years old.

'So what are we going to do now?' I asked eagerly. I knew that I could fit my plan of restoring Dalmasca in with theirs somehow.

'We're going to take a break in Rabanastre. Get a drink, stock up on supplies, the like.'

'And then what?' I asked.

'We'll see where circumstances take us,' he said. 'Plans laid too far ahead are hardly likely to turn out right,' he said.

'True,' I said.

'We'll go to the Sandsea first,' said Balthier.

'As expected,' said Fran.

Balthier, Fran and I entered the Sandsea and I sighed as the common smell of beer, food and sweat filled my lungs.

We sat down at a table, and almost simultaneously, we leaned back in our chairs and sighed.

It wasn't quite time for us to relax yet, though.

A very angry looking bangaa suddenly approached us. We each placed a hand on our weapons almost immediately.

'You!' he said, pointing at Balthier. I laughed - it was only Migelo, the old bangaa who ran the sundries shop.

Balthier looked slightly amused.

'They've taken Penelo! And it's your fault!' shouted Migelo. Penelo… I'd heard that somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where.

'Who's Penelo?' asked Balthier. It seemed he didn't know either.

'The girl you gave your handkerchief to! Dear, sweet Penelo…'

'Oh, the little blonde girl?'

'Yes!' shouted Migelo, in desperation.

'Heh?' I asked, confused. Had I missed something?

'Vaan!' said Migelo, as Vaan appeared.

'What is it?' he asked, looking from me to Balthier to Migelo.

'They've taken Penelo, Vaan!' said Migelo.

'What, Balthier, Fran and Adalia? No way,' he said, looking at Migelo as if he was a bit crazy.

'No, there's a note here. Someone by the name has kidnapped Penelo and wants Balthier to come after her.'

'Why Balthier, though? Penelo doesn't know him,' said Vaan.

'When Balthier gave his handkerchief to Penelo, an enemy of his thought he knew her personally and decided to hold her for ransom,' said Fran.

'There was a note. It tells you to come to the Bhujerba mines.'

'It's Ba'Gamnan. He's taken her,' said Fran.

'Can someone please explain? Who is this Penno person?'

Balthier sighed.

'When you were knocked out after we were captured by Vayne, this Penelo girl was defending Vaan, quite upset, and I thought that I could cheer her up. So I gave her a handkerchief. Obviously Ba'Gamnan saw and believed she was a close friend of mine. I have many enemies,' he explained.

'Ohhh,' I said, remembering. 'The little blonde girl.'

Vaan looked rather irritated at the words little and blonde.

'You have to save her!' said Vaan.

'If anything were to happen to that sweet child—why, I've her parents' memory to consider! You're going to go and save her, and that's that! It's what you Sky Pirates do, isn't it?'

I laughed, and so did Balthier. He'd done his fair share of saving while I was around. Migelo obviously understand what we thought was so funny.

'What's so funny?! The girl's been kidnapped! It's not a laughing matter!' he said.

'I don't take well to orders,' said Balthier. 'You do know an Imperial fleet is massing at Bhujerba? And I am a wanted person, as is Adalia, Vaan and Fran.'

'I'll go!' said Vaan in desperation. This girl obviously meant a lot to him. 'You have an airship, don't you? Just drop me off and I'll get her myself!'

'I'll join you,' said Basch, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. 'I have some business there as well.'

'An audience with the Marquis, is it?' asked Balthier. Basch frowned.

'You should go, you are the girl's only hope,' I told him. 'And it is kind of your fault.'

He paused for a moment.

'Fine. We'll leave soon, as soon as we're ready,' he said.

I smiled.

'Right!' said Vaan. Migelo still looked unhappy, but happier than before.

'Ba'Gamnan's note can only be referring to the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba. We'll leave at once. When you're ready, meet me in the Aerodrome. I should imagine it's still by the West Gate… We weren't in Nalbina all THAT long. Do be quick. I'd like to save your girl and be rid of this headache as soon as possible.'

He walked away and Fran and I followed.

x.x.x

I stepped onboard the airship - it was no big deal, I'd been on airships hundreds of times before as a child, travelling across Dalmasca.

Vaan, however, was excited, and it seemed he had completely forgotten about his girlfriend.

'So, is she armed? How fast is she? Could she take the Ifrit?' he asked excitedly.

'Well, I could tell you,' said Balthier, 'but wouldn't you rather see for yourself?'

He nodded, running up the stairs into the airship. I followed after, Balthier walking behind.

'Been on an airship before, I take it?' he said. 'You don't seem too excited.'

'Yeah - heaps of times,' I replied casually.

'Very… _unusual_ for a Rabanastran orphan,' he said. 'Where would you find the money?' he asked.

'I - ummm,' I started.

'Can I have a word?' he asked, but not really expecting an answer as his hands descended on my shoulders and he steered me towards an empty room.

'Ok,' I said.

'Who are you, really?' he asked.

'I'm Amalia…' I lied.

'A Rabanastran orphan?' he asked, obviously not believing me.

'Yes…' I said.

'I believe otherwise, Princess Airelia,' he said. I was shocked. How did he know who I was? I know he was clever, but I didn't think I'd given that much away.

'I - you…'

'Am I right?' he asked.

'Yeah,' I said, in defeat.

'How did you know?' I asked.

'Well, there are a number of things that gave it away,' he said, chuckling.

'First - the question of who your father was - it stumped you. No one in Basch's squad had a daughter, as he said. And even if they did, the ages wouldn't fit. You're 19, as you told me. No one old enough to be your father would be fit enough, I'm sorry, to be in the most elite squad in the Dalmascan army. Also, Princess Airelia died 3 years ago at the age of 16. If she were alive today, she would be 19 - the age you told me you were. Thirdly - you also just told me you'd been on an airship before - a privilege only for the rich and wealthy. Not for a Rabanastran orphan. And this,' he said, leaning towards me. My heart skipped a beat, and I reprimanded myself.

He pulled out my necklace from where it was tucked into my shirt.

'Damn,' I said. 'I was hoping you didn't see that.'

'But the last and most important thing was your face. I'd really known from the beginning, I just waited for more confirming information.'

'Ah, I see,' I said. 'But I'm supposed to be dead; how did you know I wasn't?'

'Well, even though we saw "your" body, there never really was much confirmation. It would have been an easy thing to fake - kill a girl around your age, hang a necklace around her neck and tell the world she's a princess.'

Only then it hit me that the body they found would have been a person.

'They would have killed an innocent girl…' I said softly, stroking my necklace.

'They have killed many more than just one,' he said. I punched the table.

'How many more lives will the Empire ruin?' I said, angrily. He put a hand on my shoulder.

'You have the power to help stop them,' he told me. I nodded.

'And so I shall,' I said. There was an awkward silence.

'I'm going to have to tell the others,' he said. I nodded.

'It will be safer for you,' he said, leaving. I followed him.

'Adalia has something you should know,' said Balthier, as we arrived at the cockpit.

Fran, Basch and Vaan turned to me.

'Well, you see, I'm …err,' I said.

'She's Princess Aire,' said Balthier.

'WHAT?!' shouted Vaan. 'Princess Aire is dead, isn't she?' he asked incredulously.

'The body was a fake…' said Basch. 'I should have known. Now I know why you say I killed your father. I am deeply sorry, m'lady. I did not kill him, but it was my fault.'

'I know you didn't kill him,' I said. 'And don't ever call me m'lady. That's just creepy.'

He laughed.

'Wait, wait, wait! How come Princess Aire's alive?' Vaan asked, still confused.

'I actually managed to escape from Nabudis,' I said. 'But the Empire stopped me from getting back to Dalmasca after they'd faked my death. I was forced to run, hide, and anything else I could do to avoid certain death by the Empire. The only time I could get back was when they turned their attention to my father and my sister, before they were killed as well… And the worst thing is - if my sister had known I was alive, I'm sure she never would have committed suicide. But I was too weak to get back, and incapable. I curse myself everyday for that,' I said.

'Lady Aire,' said Basch, 'I have very good news for you.'

'What?' I asked. I could definitely do with good news now.

'Your sister is not dead.'

I screamed.

'Really? How?' I asked, hugging Balthier, who was rather taken aback. I actually don't know why I did that - he was just the closest person and I felt I needed to hug someone.

'She did not commit suicide. That was another ploy by the Empire,' he said.

'So where is she?' I asked, looking around as if she would materialise out of thin air.

'She's the leader of the Resistance the judge was talking about,' he said.

'Amalia? Oh my goodness! They've caught her, haven't they?' I asked, my face falling.

Basch nodded.

'Well, she's alive!' I said, happy beyond belief.

'That she is. And so are you,' said Balthier.


	10. IX: Kidnapped

'Look,' said Balthier, pointing out the window and shaking me softly on the shoulder.

'Ehh, what is it?' I asked groggily. I'd just fallen asleep - we were around 2 hours into the journey.

'Bhujerba awaits,' he said. I gasped. Bhujerba really was a beautiful city - suspended in the sky, with its intricate architecture and beautiful landscape.

'Whoa…' I said, eyes glued to the scenery out the window. I'd been to Bhujerba before, but I never remembered it very well - and I didn't remember it to be this beautiful.

'It is beautiful, is it not?' asked Fran.

Everyone nodded in agreement, speechless.

x.x.x

_It really is beautiful_, thought Balthier. _Almost as beautiful as Aire_.

He gasped. Did he just think that? He shook his head.

He didn't.

Of course he didn't. He didn't think of her in _that _way.

Right?

The question went unanswered in his head.

x.x.x

We stepped off the airship, and entered the city of Bhujerba.

'It's really pretty, isn't it?' I said to Balthier.

'Mmm,' he said, looking far off into the distance.

'Hello, earth to Balthier!' I said, waving a hand in front of his face. He snapped back into focus.

'What is it?' he asked.

'You just spaced out. What were you thinking about?' I asked.

x.x.x

'What were you thinking about?' she asked him. He tried not to look straight into her eyes - or he wouldn't be able to lie. Her eyes were like a lie detector - you couldn't lie to them. And she really shouldn't know the truth.

'Oh, nothing,' he replied.

'Yeah right,' she said, punching him on the shoulder playfully.

'Really, it's nothing,' he assured her. She looked unbelieving.

'Ok, whatever you say,' she said, skipping ahead.

He sighed. That was close.

x.x.x

'Hey Ba-' I started, but he put a finger to my lip and pointed to some soldiers a few meters away.

'No good. He's not here,' said one.

'Keep searching! This way!' said the other. They hurried on.

'You're a dead man,' said Balthier, to Basch. 'Don't forget it. And no names,' he said to me.

'Ok, ok,' I replied.

'The Lhusu mines are just ahead,' said Balthier. 'Though, I do hear there's not much more left now.'

'You're going to the mines?' said a random boy, who suddenly appeared in front of us as if out of thin air. 'Then please allow me to accompany you. I've an errand to attend to there,' he said.

'Ummm…' I said, not knowing what to think. Who was this guy?

'What errand?' asked Balthier suspiciously.

'I might ask the same of you,' said the boy. This guy had some nerve, asking _us_ what we were doing.

'Hey, listen here, buster. You-' I started, but Balthier cut me off.

'Right, come on then,' he said.

'What?' I asked. 'Do you know him?' I asked.

'Excellent,' said the boy.

'Do me a favor and stay where I can keep my eye on you. Should be less trouble that way,' said Balthier.

'For us both,' said the boy. This guy definitely was a weird one. At his age, I was kicking a soccer ball around the backyard and playing cards, not going on _errands_ to the mines.

'So what's your name?' asked Vaan, crossing his arms.

'Oh, I'm - uh, Lamont,' he said. Took him a long time to remember his name. Curious.

x.x.x

'You kept us waiting, Balthier,' said a voice behind him. 4 vicious looking bangaas stood with their weapons ready. I gulped.

'You slipped away in Nalbina. We missed you!'

I sensed a very bad situation coming on.

'We won't be able to take them all,' said Balthier. 'Run and fight only who you must!'

Vaan, Fran, Basch and I nodded as we made a run for it.

The bangaas were not as slow as I thought creatures of their size would be. They ran surprisingly fast, and myself surprisingly slow. I was a good fighter - but a slow runner.

Balthier had to grab my hand - again. It was getting very irritating, but at the same time quite comforting to know someone was always looking out for me.

'Come on!' he said, sprinting for the exit. In his mad attempt, he was leaning forward like crazy, and, hanging on to me, had toppled me over. My hand slipped from his and I fell down. Just great.

2 bangaas cornered me where I sat on the floor as the other 2 chased the rest. Not good.

'Are you Balthier's other little girlfriend?' they asked.

'Who's Balthier?' I lied, standing up. They moved closer. Crap.

They looked unbelieving.

'The man who you were just holding hands with.'

'Oh… umm, no, I just met him the other day,' I lied.

'That's what the other one said as well before he came running after her.'

I gulped. I tried to reach for my weapon but one of them grabbed my arms.

'Take her away,' he said. 'Anything to gain the upper hand on Balthier,' he said. The other one nodded and pulled my dagger out of its scabbard and slipped it into his own.

I struggled in his grip, but to no avail. He had a grip of iron - not hard to believe, with arms that size and being a bangaa and all. I screamed - it was my only hope, but the others were far ahead and probably couldn't risk a journey back.

There was no answer.

He clapped a hand over my mouth and took me away with no effort whatsoever. I hate feeling powerless.


	11. X: All That Matters Is That You’re Ok

Balthier looked back in dismay. Where was Aire? She was just there a minute ago… And then he saw the 2 bangaa crowding over something.

_She must have fallen down,_ he thought to himself, still running. He couldn't go back to get her - there were too many bangaa, and yet he couldn't just leave her there.

Especially not her.

x.x.x

We went upstairs, upstairs and even higher somewhere in the mines. I was lost. That didn't do much to help my situation, so even if I somehow managed to get out, I wouldn't know where to go. Great.

Finally he opened the final trap door and threw me on the ground. I hit the concrete floor with a crash, and I could see blood streaming from various areas, but was too injured to wipe it away.

'Let me go,' I said feebly, but it didn't come out as much, seeing as my mouth was facing the ground.

'What was that? If you're lucky, your boyfriend might be joining you soon,' he said.

'He's not my boyfriend,' I tried to say again, but the sound got lost on the way.

He took out some handcuffs from somewhere and grabbed my hands. I tried to resist, as usual - but my whole body was aching from his throw and I was in no shape to fight even a rat from the sewer, let alone an armed bangaa.

With a click they closed, and he left.

I heard the jangling of keys and another click. He'd locked the door. Great. So even if I managed to get up and out of the handcuffs by some amazing miracle, I wouldn't be able to get out.

I couldn't move at all, and I could tell there were bruises everywhere. I could only breathe in short little breaths, and the situation looked dire. My only hope now was Balthier, and hopefully if he had gone for Penelo he might come back for me. Hopefully.

x.x.x

'The exit!' said Vaan, running as fast as he could.

'We've lost them,' said Fran, stopping.

'And Aire, along the way,' said Balthier, only now showing signs of distress.

'They took her?' Fran questioned.

'Damn it!' said Balthier. Fran looked quite surprised. She'd never seen Balthier lose his temper or his cool before. 'They took her,' he said. 'I saw.'

'Then what do you propose we do?' asked Basch.

'We have to go back,' said Balthier.

'Back in there? But we just got out!' said Vaan.

'Don't you understand?!' asked Balthier angrily. 'They've got her, and we need to get her back!'

Fran took a step back. Balthier was making wild gestures with his gun, and she didn't think being hit by a gun was a very desirable thing.

'Alright, alright,' said Vaan, pretty scared now as well. This was completely out of the ordinary for Balthier - the sky pirate famous for keeping a cool head.

It was scaring Balthier too. Why couldn't he keep his cool - and if he lost it, why over some girl he had recently met?

x.x.x

'Who are you to Balthier?' asked the bangaa. I still couldn't move, and worse still, I could still feel the blood oozing out.

'I told you I only just met him! He doesn't really know me at all!'

'And that's why you were holding his hand, is it?' taunted the bangaa.

'He was trying to help!' I said.

'Balthier and help don't go in the same sentence,' said the bangaa.

'What do you want from him?' I asked.

'You're not in a position to be asking questions, missy!' he said, hitting me with his club. I felt yet another bruise forming. Too much longer here and I would end up as a mass of pulp.

'Alright,' I said, 'I'll answer your questions and co-operate. Don't hit me, please,' I said, desperately. He held his club dangerously above me.

Man, if I thought the Imperials treated me roughly, they were nothing compared to this bangaa. Every wrong comment, every wrong move, would result in a very painful hit on the back. I could feel the blood oozing out - I bet I just looked like a mess. But I couldn't actually see what I looked like, mainly because I was facing the ground and my sight was blurry because of the tears floating around in my eyes. I'm not usually the kind of girl to cry, but damn, he hit hard.

'Let me ask you again,' he said in a taunting manner. 'Who are you to Balthier?'

I heard a loud crash from the trap door and the sound of footsteps.

'A friend,' said the voice of Balthier. 'A very important one.'

I thanked the heavens he came back. I knew he'd come back. Well, actually, I didn't, but anyway.

'What happened to you?' he asked me, eyeing the blood. 'Did he hurt you?' he asked.

I nodded. I was going to put in a sarcastic comment, like, no I bashed myself up, but it wouldn't be that great a reward for him saving my life. Plus my mouth was still facing the ground.

'You're going to die,' said Balthier viciously. That was new. I had only ever heard Balthier talk in an amused, annoyed or curious tone. Never angry or vicious.

'Oh really?' asked the bangaa, before I heard thumps, crashes, and the sound of a firing gun.

Within a minute, the bangaa was dead. Thank God.

Balthier took the keys from the bangaa's belt and undid my handcuffs.

'Thanks,' I said weakly. He rolled me onto my back and I coughed up some blood.

'Nasty,' he said, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping it away.

'Shouldn't we go before more come?' said Vaan, and Balthier nodded.

'Obviously you can't walk, can you?' asked Balthier. I shook my head. He scooped me up in his arms without hesitation and we started to make our way back.

'Thanks,' I said feebly. 'You know, for saving my life again, for the 20 millionth time,' I said.

'It's ok,' said Balthier. 'All that matters is that you're ok.'


	12. XI: Ok Bro

He put me down on the ground.

'Now let's see,' he said, fumbling around in his pouch. He pulled out a nasty looking bottle of liquid.

'Drink this,' he said. I tried to sit up, but failed.

'It looks disgusting,' I said, eyeing the bottle with caution.

'It'll make you feel better,' he assured me. 'Open your mouth.'

I opened my mouth, and I felt his hand supporting back of my head, raising it to the right angle for drinking as he poured the contents of the bottle into my mouth. I spluttered, but managed to drink most of it. Almost immediately, I felt better - my body stopped aching and my head stopped hurting - along with my back.

I sat up.

'Ok, are we ready to go?' I asked eagerly. I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

'Keep still,' he said, pushing me back down.

'Why? I'm fine,' I said.

'You only think you're fine,' he said. 'Your physical injuries are still there. I just gave you a painkiller,' he said.

'Ohhh…' I said, comprehending. He focused some energy and cast a Curaga spell. I felt the energy tingling through my body, and sat up again.

'Now can we go?' I asked. Balthier shook his head.

'Your wounds still need to be dressed,' he said. I sighed.

'How bad are they?' I asked, but already half knowing the answer. If they hurt that much, they were bound to be pretty serious.

'Quite bad,' he said. 'They're still bleeding. What exactly did he do?' he asked.

'Well… every time he didn't like what he heard, he'd generally just hit me on the back with his club. Also from the time he threw me halfway across the room there are probably heaps of bruises,' I said.

'My goodness,' said Balthier.

'Yeah, I know,' I said.

Balthier paused for a moment, before he pulled out some bandages.

Within minutes he was done - after much pain.

Damn his antiseptic cream.

x.x.x

'Our purposes lead the same way: to Ondore. We must find means to approach him,' said Basch.

'Like what?' I asked.

'The Marquis is channeling money to organizations opposing the Empire. We'll start there,' said Balthier. Trust him to know everything. Seriously, when I thought about it, there was not much this man did wrong at all.

'Marquis Ondore announced my execution 2 years ago. If news of my survival were to spread, the Marquis may find his position compromised,' said Basch.

'The men he's been funding bear little love for the Empire. They won't be thrilled to discover that rumors of your death were, in fact, greatly exaggerated. If we were to raise a clamor to that effect, we might just get their attention,' said Balthier.

'So, we're revealing Basch's identity?' I asked.

'Nothin' to it! I'll just go around town spreading the word. How 'bout this?' he asked. I sighed. What kind of crazy plan would his crazy little mind think up now?

'I'm Captain Basch Fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca!' he shouted loudly across the square.

'Really _subtle_, Vaan,' I said, sarcastically.

He shrugged his shoulders.

'Well? Whaddaya think?'

Not exactly the most subtle plan, but it'll work. Oh, and the more people around to witness your little performance, the better. If we're going to reach the Marquis, it's up to you. We'll be waiting here, if you need us,' said Balthier.

Vaan left to spread the word.

'Would anyone believe such a scrawny little kid is actually Basch?' I asked Balthier.

'You never know,' he said, shaking his head.

x.x.x

'So…' I said to Balthier. 'What's your favourite colour?' I asked randomly.

x.x.x

'What's your favourite colour?' she asked, her voice bubbling with happiness, as usual.

He thought. He'd never actually thought about his favourite colour - colours were colours, and that's it.

_Grey_ he thought to himself. _The colour of your beautiful eyes. _

He reprimanded himself. Stop thinking about her like that!

'Gold,' he lied. 'The colour of the most valuable treasure,' he said.

Aire laughed. Balthier smiled - her happiness was contagious.

'You're always thinking of treasure,' she said, playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

x.x.x

'Let's take a walk,' I said to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

'To where?' he asked.

'Anywhere,' I replied airily. 'It's the journey that counts, not the destination.'

x.x.x

She pulled him along. Usually he was the one that was grabbing her and running, but this time it was the other way around.

'Bhujerba's really beautiful, isn't it?' she said, admiring the architecture around her.

'Well, they do call it the beautiful city,' he said, admiring her.

The way her eyes sparkled, the way her hair fluttered in the breeze, and her smile.

_Balthier!_ he reprimanded himself.

x.x.x

'Race you to the end of the path!' I said, running ahead in front of him.

'Cheater,' he called out, running.

I was laughing - I found running really fun. Like when we were being chased by Imperials.

I turned back and stuck my tongue out at him, sprinting ahead. And crashed into something very hard, and painful.

'Ouch…' I said, looking up at what I'd run into. A wall, or a pole?

Oh great. It was an Imperial.

I stood up quickly and brushed myself off.

'What are you doing here?' he asked. 'No one is allowed past this point.'

'I - erm…' I said.

'Eh?' said the Imperial. 'You look familiar…'

Uh-oh. Did he recognise me as the princess?

To my relief, Balthier came along a few seconds later.

'Sorry,' he said to the Imperial. 'My sister and I were just racing around, looking for someone, and she's a bit clumsy,' he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. 'Now let's go, Adalia, before you cause any more trouble,' he said, turning to me and walking away from the Imperials.

'Thank you,' I whispered to him, as they were out of earshot.

'You're welcome,' he said.

'Do you think he noticed?' I asked.

'Well, he might have…' said Balthier, 'but probably thought it was a coincidence after I told him you were my sister. Because Princess Aire doesn't have any brothers,' he said.

I smiled.

'Well, aren't you the quick thinker?' I said.

'Practise makes perfect,' he said. 'Looks like Vaan's gotten some attention,' he said, pointing to the blonde boy a few metres away.

'You. Boy. You will come with us,' said a Seeq.

'A shame if they learnt the Marquis trafficked with the likes of you,' said Balthier, approaching Vaan. I followed.

'A hideout at the back of a tavern. Not exactly earning high marks for originality, are we?' said Balthier.

The bangaa looked angry and stepped towards us.

I jumped back. Now, out of habit, I made sure I was 2 metres away from any bangaa present. Balthier stepped in front of me, and it gave me a fuzzy protected feeling.

Aire!

I hit something hard. Don't tell me it's another Imperial.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Basch.

'So Basch Fon Ronsenburg does yet live. I knew there must be more to it, but to find you at the end of this tale… Heh heh.'

He looked at me for a second.

'She looks awfully familiar…' he said. I gulped. I didn't quite trust this guy yet, and didn't want him to know who I really was.

'They do say my sister looks like the late princess,' said Balthier.

Havharo paused, but then continued.

'Ah, of course. To see the Marquis' reactions when he learns of Basch…'

I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Balthier in my head. Again.

'I should like nothing more. I would meet him, and see for myself,' said Basch.

'We shall expect you at the estate,' said Havharo, leaving.

'Thanks again,' I said to Balthier, when they were out of earshot.

'Even though you've changed your appearance, you still resemble the Princess,' said Balthier.

'Well there's not much else I can do,' I replied. 'I mean, it's not like I can change my facial features. I can't fashion different noses and stick them on my face!'

'True,' said Balthier. 'But we'll still have to be more careful. From now on, you're my sister,' he said.

'Ok,' I said, 'bro.'


	13. XII: There's Two?

Author's note:

Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update - exams are finally over! YAY!

Here's an extra long chapter to make up for the long wait.

* * *

'Sir Basch Fon Ronsenburg. It was not so very long ago that I announced you had been executed,' said Ondore. I giggled. Uncle Ondore had such a thick accent it made me laugh every time I heard him talking. Balthier tapped me on the shoulder, indicating for me to stop.

'And that is the only reason I draw breath,' replied Basch solemnly.

'So you are the sword he's strung above my head. Vayne has left not a thing to chance. And?' said Ondore.

Vaan was looking more and more impatient as they were talking; wringing his hands and fidgeting like a toddler.

'A leader of the Resistance has fallen into Imperial hands, a woman called Amalia,' said Basch.

My heart skipped as I heard my sister's fake name; it just reinforced the fact she was alive. I smiled to myself.

'I would rescue her, but I need your help,' said Basch.

'This Resistance leader—this Amalia must be very important,' said Ondore. 'But you do understand I've my position to consider,' said Ondore.

Vaan opened his mouth and interrupted before Basch could talk again.

'Can we see Larsa? My friend is with him,' he said quickly.

Ondore looked at him as if he was a child, then spoke.

'My apologies, but Lord Larsa has already left. I have heard they will leave for Rabanastre this evening,' said Ondore.

'But-' said Vaan, looking thoroughly disappointed. 'I need to see Larsa, and Penelo!' he insisted.

'Who is this illustrious young woman?' asked Ondore, looking at me. 'You do look familiar,' he said.

'I'm Adalia,' I said quickly, cursing myself. Adalia sounded so much like Amalia it wasn't funny.

'She's my sister,' said Balthier, putting his hand on my shoulder again.

'You- look like someone I knew a long time ago,' said Ondore, looking into the distance.

There was silence for a moment.

'We need to see Penelo!!' said Vaan impatiently. 'What are we waiting for?

'For you to calm down,' said Balthier.

Ondore turned to Basch, ignoring Vaan.

'Captain Ronsenburg. Surely the exigencies of position are not lost on you. Why indeed, you should find the enemy's chains…an easy burden to bear,' he said.

Basch looked angry and drew his sword.

'Summon the Guard!' said Ondore, and almost immediately guards started running in. They grabbed each of us.

'Hey!' I said. 'Let go!'

It didn't really do much.

'They're to be taken to Judge Ghis,' said Ondore, before waving his arm and leaving.

Grr.

x.x.x

'Well this is great, isn't it?' I whispered to Balthier, as the Imperials around us drove us forward to our cells.

'It happens,' he replied. I sighed. We followed them through a maze of an airship - a mass of twists, turns, and dead ends.

When we reached the prisoner's room, I gasped.

There was my sister - right before my eyes.

When we entered, I saw her look at me intently. Did she know I was Aire? I hoped so.

It was hard to keep quiet with all the excitement bubbling up inside me - my sister was alive - and the reality of it was heartening.

She looked exactly the same as she had the last time I saw her, calculating expression on her face, light brown hair tickling the sides of her face and those misty grey eyes - my own.

'Majesty,' said Basch, but Ashe slapped him across the face.

'After what you've done? How dare you! You're supposed to be dead,' she said. I opened my mouth to tell her he was innocent, but that would be completely blowing my cover.

'As are you,' taunted Ghis. 'Come now, come now. Have you forgotten your manners? This is hardly the courtesy due… The late Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca.'

'Princess?' said Vaan. 'There's two?'

Ashe looked at me again, and made eye contact.

I could kill him. He just completely blew my cover. I hoped in my heart that Ghis was stupid.

'He means… there are two princesses, but one's dead, right Vaan?' said Balthier, trying to cover his mistake.

'What a curious thing to say…' said Ghis, and I could see he was thinking inside that ugly head of his.

I prayed he wouldn't find out.

'His Excellency the Consul asks the Ministry of the Disthroned Royal Family in restoring peace to Dalmasca. Those who foster instability and unrest, who claim Royal Blood without proof…they shall meet their fate at the gallows. There are no exceptions.'

'I will not play puppet to Vayne,' said Ashe.

'King Raminas entrusted me with a task. Should the time come, he bade me give you something of great importance. It is your birthright: The Dusk Shard. It will warrant the quality of her blood. Only I know where to find it,' said Basch. As he had told me before.

'You took my father's life! Why spare mine now? You would have me live in shame!' she asked.

'If that is your duty, yes,' he replied.

I was trying to mouth to her 'he's innocent' without Ghis noticing. Unfortunately, he had a very sharp eye.

'It seems that Adalia has something to say to us. Go on,' he said, indicating to me. When Ghis said Adalia, Ashe looked at me again and I knew she knew who I was. Think of a lie, quick.

'I wanted to say that, ummm, well…'

'She wanted to say that she's hungry,' said Balthier. Not the best lie, but he sure could think faster than me.

'You expect food at request as a prisoner? Unbelievable. It seems you have never been in custody before.'

'Ummm, yes,' I said. I looked at Balthier and giggled. I'd said the right word this time. He laughed lightly as well, and everyone around us looked at us as if we were crazy.

'Stop being so stubborn! You're going to get us all killed if you go on like this!' said Vaan to Ashe, and I was nodding. Basch was innocent, for heaven's sake!

'My lord!' an Imperial suddenly shouted out. We all turned around.

'What is it?' Ghis asked.

'She has - the magicite,' he said, pointing at me. And sure enough, the stone was peeping out of my pouch. I slapped myself inwardly. Why did you put it in such an obvious place, Aire?

'Hahaha! Splendid! You've brought the stone to us - this spares us a lot of trouble.'

I held the stone tight in my hands.

'Don't give it to him!' urged Ashe, trying to reach me but being held back by knight soldiers.

'It isn't the magicite,' I lied. 'It's a, ummm, model. Yeah. I bought it at a novelty shop,' I lied. Pathetic lie, Aire. Maybe I should let Balthier do the lying from now on.

'A model of magicite. What a pathetic lie,' he said. He really didn't miss anything, did he? Except for the fact that I was a princess as well.

'It really is!' I said, but it started to glow at that moment. Darn it.

'Hand it over,' he said. I looked to Balthier and Fran for confirmation. If I handed it over, we could save Ashe. They nodded.

'Only if you don't execute her,' I said, handing over the stone.

'My duty is to the law,' he said.

'Take them away. Lady Ashe is to be quartered separately.' Imperials appeared and ushered us out, as I took one last look at my sister.

'Alright, alright, I'm going!' I shouted at an Imperial who kicked me.

'So you had it all along,' Basch said to me. 'The fates jest.'

'There's no such thing as fate!' I said.

'Keep quiet!' said one of the soldiers. I stuck out my tongue at him.

'There was nothing else I could do, and you know that,' said Basch to Balthier, who was looking at him weirdly.

'I understand. Fate, honor, duty, and all that. I still can't believe that's the princess,' he replied.

'Why not?' I asked.

'I said keep quiet!' said the knight, who was just about to bring his spear down on me before Balthier pulled me out of the way and grabbed his spear. I took one off a neighbouring knight. Fran knocked out another soldier with a kick, and Basch whacked one on the head with his cuffs. Then, curiously, one of the knights knocked out another. He then took off his helmet to reveal… a random man, which Basch obviously knew.

Basch smiled and approached the man.

'The Marquis has been busy,' he said.

'Not lightly did I beg his aid. Listen, it has been a full two years. I alone have kept Her Majesty safely hidden. I doubted friend and for alike. I could trust nobody,' said the man.

'Wait - you looked after my sister?' I asked. 'Who are you?'

He adopted a confused look.

'Your sister?' he asked.

'Umm, no, I mean, the princess,' I said.

'Princess Aire?' he said, in surprise.

'Aire…' muttered Balthier. 'So much for 'you're my sister from now on',' he said, shaking his head.

'Princess? You are alive!' said the man, shocked.

'Yes but… who are you?' I asked the man Basch was talking to.

'I am Vossler,' he said, 'An old friend of Basch's. You are the Princess?' he said, mouth agape.

I sighed.

'Yeah, I guess you know now,' I said.

'Remind me never to tell you any vital secrets,' said Balthier.

'Hey… it's hard, ok?' I said.

'I am glad you are alive, Princess Aire. But I thought you above consorting with orphans and sky pirates,' said the man called Vossler.

'Above?' I said. 'Just because I'm a princess, it doesn't mean I'm not a person. I'm not above anyone, neither is anyone below me!' I said, angrily. 'And don't you dare diss my friends,' I said.

Vossler looked shocked.

'We must hurry,' he said, turning away and leaving. I followed after, taking an immediate dislike to the man.


	14. XIII: Reunion

I fell into step with Balthier, a fair distance away from the man called Vossler.

'He's annoying, isn't he?' I asked.

'Hmmm,' he said.

'I mean, how high up does he think he is? _Above consorting with sky pirates and orphans_… honestly,' I said, mocking Vossler's speech.

He laughed.

'Many will assume you are above common citizens. However, being with common citizens and befriending them is possibly the best thing for a princess to do,' he said.

I smiled.

'Well, we can't exactly call you _common_, Mr Infamous Sky Pirate,' I said, laughing.

'The leading man is never common,' he said, laughing.

'So what's the plan for getting out of here?' I asked Balthier.

'The keys and Ashe's cell is somewhere upstairs, near the middle of the ship,' he said.

'Ah, ok,' I said. 'I can't wait,' I said.

'From what I've seen, your sister is very different to you,' he said, 'correct me if I'm wrong.'

I laughed.

'She's very different. We're almost exact opposites - there's no way you could call us identical twins. But our personalities complement each other,' I said.

'Ok,' said Balthier.

'Have you got any siblings?' I asked him.

'I might,' he said.

'What kind of answer is that?' I asked, laughing.

'Well, I ran away, you know,' he said.

'Oh, right,' I said sheepishly.

'And also, my father may not always have been true to my mum,' he said.

'So you don't know?' I asked him.

'Yeah,' he said.

It must be pretty bad to not know whether you have siblings or not.

'Why did you run away?' I asked.

'I-,' he started.

'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,' I said quickly, sensing his discomfort.

'I wanted to be a sky pirate,' he said simply.

'Don't we all?'

I sensed there was more to the story than that, but I didn't push him further.

Out of nowhere, an alarm sounded. Red lights shone from every direction.

'Whoops,' said Vaan, as he stopped in his tracks - right in the midst of the red lines running from the floor to the ceiling.

'You _idiot_, Vaan!' I shouted at him. I could already hear the clicks of Imperials' feet on the polished floor.

'Sorry!' said Vaan. Balthier shook his head, as we all took out our weapons.

The Imperials came like a stampede of buffalo.

Slowly we took them down.

After many minutes of fighting, the alarm stopped. We finished off the Imperials near us and waited for Vaan to finish the one he was fighting.

Accidentally he stepped back - right into the red beams again!

The alarm started.

'VAAN YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT!' I shouted at him. There was more clicking of Imperials' shoes.

'Run!' said Balthier. That was a good idea. We weren't really in a shape to fight any more.

I ran after him.

'Do you know where we're going?' I asked.

'We'll go and get the key before more come!' he replied.

'Ok!' I said.

'DON'T STEP IN ANY BEAMS, VAAN!' I shouted at him.

'Sorry!' he said.

After much puffing and panting, we reached the room where the key was meant to be.

Instead of a key, there were 2 judges, and more Imperials. Great.

'Fear not their numbers! Take down the leaders, and the others will follow!' said the judge.

And who exactly was the leader?

Balthier was, it seemed. He started assigning roles to people.

'Take out the Imperials first!' he said.

I started fighting the Imperial closest to me, and so did Balthier.

'Hey!' I said. 'Don't steal my fun!' I teased, as we hacked away at the Imperial together.

'It's not a good idea to talk while you're fighting,' he warned.

'Whatever,' I replied, sticking out my tongue. As I was focused on sticking out my tongue, I didn't notice another Imperial creeping up from behind.

'Aire!' said Balthier, running over and blocking the Imperial's attack.

'Oh… right,' I said sheepishly.

'Don't talk,' he said. I nodded.

Within the next few minutes, I'd brought down the Imperial I was fighting, as had Balthier, Basch and Vossler. It seemed the Imperials had taken the judge's words to heart, and were all focusing on Balthier - but he endured.

'Focus on the judge on the left,' said Balthier.

The judges decided to take out Balthier.

As we hacked away at the judge on the left, both of them were picking on Balthier.

'Balthier!' I called out, as he endured an accurate and striking blow from one of the judges. I ran over to him.

'Keep fighting, Aire,' he said, 'I'm fine,' he said, hunching over and grabbing his arm. He obviously wasn't.

'Yeah right,' I said, charging up a Curaga spell.

I released the energy and healed him.

'Thanks, Aire,' he said, standing up and wielding his sword again.

'No problem,' I said. 'I do owe you, after all.'

A while later, both the judges had fallen.

'You alright?' I asked Balthier.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' he lied. He tried to walk and almost tripped. I grabbed his arm.

'Here,' I said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. 'I'll help you walk,' I said.

'I'm fine, Aire,' he assured me.

'Let me help you for once,' I said. 'I mean, you've done it for me so many times.'

He sighed.

'Ok,' he said.

We proceeded to Ashe's cell; Basch had taken the key from the fallen Imperials.

He stuck the key into the lock, and the door opened.

And sitting there was my sister. I let go of Balthier and ran towards her.

'Ashe!' I said, hugging her. She seemed a bit stunned, and then I realised she didn't know who I was.

'It's Aire,' I said, now crying.

'I knew it!' she said, hugging me back. We were both crying now.

'How come you're alive, though?' I asked.

'I could ask you the same,' she said, laughing.

'Well, I don't know the full details, but the Empire faked my death. It wasn't really my body they found. I tried to get back to Rabanastre and back to you guys, but the Empire thwarted me and I was now a fugitive in their books. I tried my hardest to get back to you guys, but only when they invaded Rabanastre was I not their main focus anymore and could get back to Rabanastre. But when I got back, I found the whole family dead and despaired. I couldn't even get back to power because the Empire was starting to take over Rabanastre. So I hid, waiting for an opportunity to thwart them and reclaim the throne, and avenge you, Rasler and father. Your turn.'

'Rasler,' she said with a sigh, and I patted her on the shoulder. She smiled again.

'At least you're alive,' she said. 'When the Empire invaded, I managed to escape - but barely. Rasler and father were not so lucky. They demolished the Dalmascan army, and I fled. Rabanastre was taken by the Empire and I had to stay in hiding - like you, so the Empire would not find me. Everyone assumed I had committed suicide - and since I never appeared because I couldn't prove my identity, everyone believed it. Vossler has been looking after me for that time,' she said, turning to Vossler.

Some of my negative feelings towards Vossler vanished for him taking care of my sister, but I still had misgivings about him. I was also jealous of him. He'd spent so much time with Ashe - precious quality time I'd lost with my twin.

'I still can't believe it though… thank the heavens,' I said. 'I felt so bad everyday because I was too weak to get back and I thought I could've stopped you committing suicide - but you didn't!'

'Do you still have your necklace?' she asked.

'Hell yes,' I said, pulling it out. She pulled hers out as well.

'2 hearts - finally reunited,' she said.

It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

'You are unharmed,' said Vossler, and I glared at him. Trust him to try and interrupt my reunion. Ashe paid no attention to him.

'I see you finally got your black hair,' she said, laughing.

'Yeah,' I said. 'Well, this is Balthier,' I said, 'Vaan, Fran, Vossler and Basch.'

'Why are you travelling with the man who killed our father?' she asked.

'He didn't kill him! It was his twin, and if you trust me you'll trust him,' I said. She nodded.

'I love you, Ashe,' I said.

'Love you too, Aire.'

There was an awkward silence as Ashe and I simply hugged each other. Vaan broke the silence.

'Come on, come on! Let's go! What are you waiting for? Penelo's still out there!' said Vaan, obviously not touched by our reunion.

I glared at him.

'Ok,' said Ashe, as we let go of each other.

'We will talk later,' said Vossler, to Ashe.

I glared at Vossler too, and I saw a smile cross Balthier's face.

As we left the cells, the alarm sounded and there were red lights flashing. The ship had been placed on red alert - which meant the place was swarming with Imperials.

However, not even this could ruin my good mood. I stuck by Ashe's side.

'You still look the same,' I said to her, as we ran along the corridor.

'So do you,' she said. I smiled. I loved talking to my sister.

'Majesties. We will cut you a path,' said Basch.

'Hey, I'm not completely incapable of defending myself!' I said, holding up my dagger as we ran. Ashe also, I noticed, had a sword at her side.

'Oh really?' teased Balthier.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

'Imperials,' said Basch, who skidded to a halt as everyone took out their weapons.

I pulled out my dagger and stood, ready to fight, as around 10 Imperials started attacking.

I think I fight better when I'm happy.

Because I was blocking their every blow, hitting with precision, and not even fatigued.

Ashe, on the other hand, was never good at fighting.

She tried to fight the Imperial she was closest to, but kept losing grip of her sword and whatnot.

'Ashe!' I called out. 'Lock your wrist! Move faster!' I said. She nodded, and kept on fighting. Though she did get a little better, she was still taking major damage.

I quickly finished off second Imperial I was fighting and rushed to her side. I blocked a blow from the Imperial aimed at Ashe and started fighting. She stood by my side and hacked away with me.

Within a few minutes, the Imperial was dead.

'Woot!' I said, jumping up.

'Hi-five!' I said to her, holding my hand up. She slapped it and smiled.

I looked around and saw and Imperial with a small spot of bare skin on his neck fighting Balthier. I smiled, readied my dagger to throw and flicked it towards the Imperial.

It hit the spot.

As if in a cartoon, the Imperial paused and fell back.

Ashe gaped, and so did Balthier.

I walked over to the Imperial and pulled my dagger out.

'Can't defend myself, can I?' I asked Balthier playfully.

'You're getting better,' he said.

'No time to talk!' said Vossler. I sighed as we headed for the exit.


	15. XIV: Leading Man

When we reached the exit, we saw Penelo and Larsa.

'Vaan!' said Penelo, rushing to Vaan and hugging him tightly.

'It's okay. We're okay,' he said, as she nestled her head on his shoulder. I giggled slightly - they were cute.

Larsa approached Vossler.

'Ghis knows you've escaped. You must hurry. You are Captain Azelas. You will follow me. We must reach the airships before they do,' he said.

'You would let us leave knowing who we are?' said Vossler.

'Lady Ashe. By all rights you ought not even to exist,' said Larsa.

'Me too!' I said.

He looked confused for a moment, and then his face broke into a smile.

'Lady Aire?' he asked.

'That's me,' I said. 'Twin sister of Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca,' I said, patting my sister on the back.

'My Lord. What a surprise. That you, Lady Ashe and Captain Ronsenburg were made to appear dead…is like a hidden thread laid bare. Your actions hereafter will pull at that thread…and we will see what it unravels. This is our chance. We must see this through, and get to the bottom of it. I believe 'tis for the good of Dalmasca, and the good of the Empire,' he said.

'Very well, then,' replied Ashe. I smiled. Always her formal way of talking.

'Thanks "Lamont,"' said Vaan.

'Uh, I must apologize,' said Larsa, turning to Vaan.

'Huh?' said Vaan. Another perfect judge sentence.

Larsa turned to Penelo and held out a stone.

'Penelo, for you,' he said, handing her a stone. 'May it bring you good fortune,'

'Thanks,' said Penelo, taking the stone from him. Larsa left with Vossler, and it might have been my imagination, but I saw Vaan glare at Larsa. Just slightly.

We also started to leave. I slipped an arm through my sister's, and we started to talk.

'So, how have you been these last few years?' I asked.

'I've been fighting with the Resistance, trying to release the Empire's grip on Dalmasca,' she said. 'Hasn't worked that well, as you can see,' she added.

'It'll work out,' I assured her. 'It's funny, the Resistance never found me,' I said.

'No,' said Ashe. 'It is curious. But then again, you were always good at remaining invisible.'

'True,' I said. 'So who's this Vossler guy? Seems a little annoying,' I said.

'Vossler? He can be, at times. But he's got a good heart. He's been taking care of me ever since my faked death. He's a good person,' she said.

'But he's an Imperial!' I said.

'He's a double agent,' she said. 'As you just saw.'

'Ok,' I said. 'I'll trust your judgement.'

We reached the exit, but it wasn't the time to celebrate just yet.

Ghis was waiting for us.

'Such a great shame. I must confess: I thought you the one who would help us restore peace to Dalmasca,' said Ghis.

'I shall never work together with the Empire!' said Ashe.

I heard a sound behind me; I turned around to find the door from which we came closing. Just great - there was no way of escaping now.

'No matter. We hold the proof of your Royal Lineage. A maid of passing resemblance will serve our purposes now,' said Ghis.

Suddenly, a fireball came hurtling our way.

'Ashe!' I said, tackling her to the ground just in time.

A bright light suddenly came from the stone Penelo was holding, and it stopped the fireball. I got up and dusted myself off.

'Your sister has even slower reactions than you do,' said Balthier, who had tackled a rather startled Fran.

'What was that?' asked Penelo, looking at the stone in her hand.

'The Nethicite,' said Balthier, more to himself than anyone else.

'Your Majesty does not disappoint! Ever quick to spurn an honourable surrender, as was your father,' said Ghis.

'You don't know ANYTHING about my father!' I shouted at him.

Balthier put a hand to his forehead.

I swore.

'Your father?' asked Ghis. 'What a surprise. The Princess Airelia, I presume?' he said.

'No, I'm -err,' I started.

'You are a very bad liar,' he said. 'I knew it was you ever since our little conversation aboard the Leviathan,' he said.

I was silent. Great, Aire.

Now the Empire knows you're alive.

'No matter!' said Ghis, taking out a sword and summoning Imperials to his side.

I took out my dagger, ready to fight. I saw the others do the same.

'Stay back, Ashe!' I said. I was rather protective of my sister - more so after her display fighting the Imperials.

'I'll be alright,' she reassured me, but I wasn't convinced.

'I don't want you to fight!' I told her.

'How sweet,' said Ghis, who charged for me. I blocked his blow and started fighting with him.

'Sisterly love,' he said, in his poisonous voice.

I was concentrating too hard to talk - from previous experience, I knew it was a bad idea to talk while fighting.

'Lost for words?' taunted Ghis. I scowled at him.

I took a quick look out of the corner of my eye to check how the others were doing. They were fighting the Imperials, and as far as I could see, Balthier and Fran had already defeated one. 3 more to go.

I sidestepped Ghis and tried to get to his back, but he was too fast.

'Those tricks won't work on me, Princess,' he said. 'I must say, though, you're better than your sister.'

I heard footsteps behind me, but ignored them. Probably just the others fighting. I hoped Ashe was alright - I couldn't see her and Ghis' comment was rather grim.

'Aire! Behind you!' called out Balthier. I turned around to find an Imperial with his sword in the air, almost about to attack me. I blocked his attack, but then realised a fatal flaw in my plan as the silver metal of Ghis' sword pressed against my neck.

'Game over,' he said.

'Aire!' called out Ashe, who started to run towards me.

'Move, and she dies,' he said, pulling the sword closer. I gulped.

Everyone stood still. Wait… where was Balthier?

'Very good,' said Ghis.

'Leave her alone,' said Ashe. 'It's me you want, isn't it?' she said.

'Ah… but she is a Princess as well, is she not?' said Ghis. Ashe scowled.

Where was Balthier? Now was the time I needed him to think up one of his great plans, or use his lightning-fast reactions to work out this situation. And he wasn't here.

I breathed deeply, and told myself to relax.

It didn't really work.

I heard a groan from behind me, and smiled as Ghis' sword fell from his hand and onto the ground. I turned around to find Balthier, his sword stuck in Ghis' back.

'Nice,' I said, smiling at him.

'What would you do without the leading man, I wonder?' he said, laughing.

'We're not done yet,' I said, turning back to the Imperial, only to find Basch standing over the dead body.

Vossler came running in, and I sighed. I thought we'd left him for good.

'We've secured an Atomos! Come!' he said, beckoning us. Ashe was the first to follow; the rest of us followed soon after.

'An Atomos?' said Balthier, looking rather disappointed. 'All skiff, no ship. Hardly fit for a leading man,' he said.

'You'll survive,' I said, grinning.


	16. XV: The Most Infamous Sky Pirate

We boarded the Atomos with speed.

'Can I fly it?' asked Vaan eagerly.

Fran pushed him out of the way and sat at the control seat.

'Are you mad?' she asked, fiddling around with the controls and looking at Vaan as if he was. Balthier did the same.

'She's ready to go,' said Balthier to Fran. She nodded.

I've always wondered why starting an airship requires 2 people. It's weird. Shouldn't they design it so if you were alone, you could start it by yourself?

Ah well, the quirks of Ivalice.

We successfully evaded all the airships after us with Balthier and Fran's expert handling, and arrived at the Bhujerba Aerodrome not long after.

x.x.x

'Balthier, your handkerchief. I thought you might want it back,' said Penelo, smiling at Balthier and holding out his handkerchief. I smiled as I saw Vaan look slightly angry. Balthier took the handkerchief from her, and held it close to his chest.

'I shall wear it close to my heart,' he said.

'Hey, hey,' I said, as she left with Vaan, who was glaring at Balthier. 'That's Vaan's girlfriend, not yours,' I said.

'Oh, don't get _jealous_, Princess. You're close to my heart as well,' he said, laughing.

'Balthier!' I said, punching him on the shoulder playfully.

'Is something going on between you two that I should know about?' asked Ashe, winking at me.

'No, nothing!' I said, rather too quickly.

'I wonder if you're aware that your sister is now a sky pirate?' asked Balthier, to Ashe.

Ashe gaped.

'Is he serious?' she asked.

'Well, I joined him and Fran…' I said. 'But I haven't stolen anything!' I added quickly.

'Except for the magicite,' said Balthier.

'Hey, that was in the palace, so it was mine anyway. And plus - now the Empire have got it, so it doesn't matter,' I said.

Ashe sighed.

'I don't think I've quite been introduced to you,' she said, to Balthier. 'You're Balthier?' she asked.

'Yes,' he said. 'And that's about all you need to know.'

'Well, I thank you for saving my sister's life,' she said.

'He's done it more than once,' I said, patting him on the back.

'And am probably going to have to again in the future,' he said, sighing.

x.x.x

'Uncle Halim!' said Ashe, running to him and hugging him.

'Lady Ashe,' he said.

They broke apart and Ashe smiled.

'I don't suppose you've seen my sister in a while,' she said, indicating to me.

Ondore looked at me intently, then broke into a great smile.

'Lady Aire!' he said.

He stepped forward to hug me, but I stepped back.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Thanks for arresting us,' I said sarcastically, giving him an annoyed look.

He looked confused.

'Oh,' he said, remembering. 'I am deeply sorry for that, but I did not know your identity at that time,' he said.

I grunted.

Ashe looked at me weirdly.

'Very ladylike,' teased Balthier.

'Well…' said Ashe, trying to break the tension. 'Shall I tell you what has happened?' she asked. Ondore nodded.

'When Vossler learned my father had been killed…the night of the treaty-signing, he returned to Rabanastre to aid my escape. There was still time before Vayne's reach extended too far. We thought that you could protect me,' she said.

Ondore paused.

'When I then made the announcement that you had taken your own life…I must have seemed a model citizen of the Empire,' he said.

Ashe nodded.

'The announcement, you see, was Vayne's suggestion. Of course, at the time I was reluctant, but I could not perceive his reasons. Now it is clear: He meant to drive a wedge between us,' he said.

'Halim, we are past all this. Bhujerba must stand with us. We can stop Vayne,' she said. I scowled.

'I once knew a girl whose only wish…was to be carried in her uncle's arms. Your Majesty is a woman grown now,' said Ondore.

'Bhujerba will aid us?' asked Ashe.

'Suppose for a moment you were to defeat Vayne… What then? You cannot simply rebuild your kingdom with the only proof of your birthright stolen. Without that, the Gran Kiltias on Bur-Omisace cannot recognize you as the rightful heirs,' said Ondore. 'You may yet be Princesses, but without proof of your identity, you are powerless. You will remain with me. We do nothing till the time is right,' he said.

'Nothing?!' I practically shouted. 'NO WAY!'

'I cannot just wait!' exclaimed Ashe.

'Then what does Your Majesties propose we do?' he asked.

'If we defeat Vayne, we can release the Empire's grip from Rabanastre! And then, we can get the proof of our birthright and we can rule Dalmasca!' I said, almost shouting.

'Uncle Halim!' said Ashe, looking distressed and wringing her hands.

'Incidentally, what is the going rate for rescuing Princesses these days?' asked Balthier.

'A kiss on the cheek,' I said cheekily.

Ashe started walking away, glaring at Balthier.

'Ashe!' I called out, but she had already left.

'Nice going, Balthier,' I said, sarcastically, leaving.

x.x.x

I decided to follow Ashe and see what she was up to. I followed her, and arrived at the Strahl. She sat down at the cockpit and started fiddling with the controls. I hid behind a seat.

'What are you doing?' said Vaan, who appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere. 'This is Balthier's ship,' he said.

'I'm going to retrieve the Dawn Shard. It's the proof that I need. I know where it's hidden. I'll return the airship later.'

'Are you crazy?'

'This is something that I have to do! For myself and all those who have fallen. I will not be made to hide! I'll fight alone, if I must.'

'No you won't! I'll be there with you!' I said, jumping up. Vaan screamed. I laughed - he sounded like such a girl.

'You shall support me?' asked Ashe.

'Of course,' I said. 'What kind of sister would I be to let you go alone?' I asked.

Ashe smiled.

'Though we'll have to ask Balthier whether we can borrow his ship first,' I said.

'What is it with you and Balthier? Do you like him or something?' asked Ashe.

'What about me?' asked Balthier, walking in suddenly.

'Nothing,' said Ashe and I at the same time.

'If you say so,' he said skeptically.

'No really,' I said. 'Ashe wants to take this airship. We refuse to do nothing,' I told him.

He shook his head. 'I'm leaving you with the Marquis,' he said to Ashe and me.

'No!' I shouted at him.

'You can't,' said Ashe.

'You're better off staying here,' he said.

'No!' I said, crossing my arms. Ashe sighed.

'Suppose you kidnapped us instead,' she said.

Balthier stopped to think.

'What do you have that I would want?' he asked, suddenly interested.

'Well there's my great personality, and my funny jokes-' I started, but Ashe cut me off.

'The treasures of King Raithwall, the Dynast King,' she said.

'King Raithwall, you say?'

'Kidnapping royalty is an offence,' said Basch, entering, 'though I doubt it will raise the bounty on your head much.'

'How much is the bounty on your head, these days, I wonder?' taunted Balthier.

'I'll escort you in Vossler's place,' Basch said to Ashe.

'And what about me?' I asked. With my more carefree and funny (if I do say so myself) personality, everyone seems to forget I'm a princess.

'Surely you need no other protection than that of the most infamous sky pirate?' said Balthier.

'Pah. I'm stronger than you,' I said.

'Sure you are,' he said sarcastically. 'That's why I've had to save your life half a million times,' he said. I scowled.

Fran and Penelo came in.

'Looks like the whole gang is here,' I said.

'Will you all be joining us?' she asked.

'Of course! I'm not sticking around here,' said Vaan.

'Me neither,' agreed Penelo, smiling at Vaan.

'We'll leave before he notices they're gone,' said Fran. 'Like proper kidnappers.'

'You aren't _actually_ kidnapping us, you know?' I told her.

'Aren't we?' asked Balthier, laughing.


	17. XVI: 5 Minutes!

He opened the door with caution, trying not to make noise so as not to wake her up. He tip-toed in, and simply watched her for a while. Her chest rose and fell in perfect rhythm, the sound of her steady breathing filling the air. Eyelids closed and hair cascading over the pillow, she looked peaceful - far from her usual mood when awake. The sunlight was dancing on her face, and he felt a sudden urge to leave her there and watch. But he had to wake her up.

x.x.x

'Rise and shine,' came the voice of Balthier. I groaned, and I heard soft laughing in the background. I pulled the doona over my head.

'5 minutes,' I said.

'Last time I gave you 5 minutes, it turned into 45 minutes,' he reminded me.

'Noooo,' I moaned, half asleep. He sighed.

'We have matters to attend to,' he said.

'You can sit here and wake me up in 5 minutes to be sure,' I said. 'But give me 5 minutes.'

He sighed and took a seat. I couldn't really go back to sleep in 5 minutes, especially with him in the room. It would be, pretty awkward. What if I snored?

I peeped out from under the cover. He was eyeing my weapon.

'You really shouldn't leave your weapon lying around so carelessly,' he said, picking it up.

'Why not?' I asked.

'Because if our ship gets attacked, or the Empire somehow gets in… you'll be defenceless because they could just take your weapon. For example, if I was an enemy, I could kill you right now,' he said.

'Yeah, but you wouldn't,' I said. 'You're too gentlemanly to kill a _lady_,' I replied.

'Yes, but Vayne sure as hell isn't.'

I sighed.

'So much for 'the protection of the most infamous sky pirate',' I said.

He chuckled softly.

'Well if a whole fleet of Imperial airships corners us, there's not much one person can do,' he said. 'I - just don't want you to get hurt.'

'Awww, thanks Balthier,' I said.

There was an awkward silence as I thought over the sentiment he just made. Of course he didn't want me to get hurt - he didn't want anyone to get hurt, but it made me feel special. I smiled.

'5 minutes is up,' he said, standing up.

'Nooo,' I said, pulling the doona over my head again.

'Aire…' he said. 'Don't make me drag you out of bed,' he said, pulling off the doona.

'Give it back,' I said, holding my hand out.

'No, Aire. Get up,' he said.

'You're going to have to _drag_ me out of bed,' I said, turning over.

'Fine,' he said, throwing the doona back. I didn't think he'd actually go for that option.

He grabbed my feet and pulled. I screamed and held on to the railing at the front of the bed. Hah. Take that. He sighed, letting go of my legs and trying to pry my fingers from the rail, but every time he got one off, I would wrap it around almost immediately as he moved on to the next finger.

'Nah nah,' I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

'Aire, don't be childish,' he said.

'5 more minutes!' I shouted.

'You've had 5 minutes already,' he said.

Ashe came in.

'What _are_ you two doing?' she asked.

'Aire refuses to get out of bed,' said Balthier.

'Aire, get out of bed already,' said Ashe. 'We've arrived.'

With those two words I jumped up.

'We've arrived?' I asked.

'Not quite,' said Balthier, looking out the window. 'But the airship can't fly any further. We'll have to go the rest of the way by foot.'

I groaned.

'I need to change!' I said, shooing Balthier out.

'Nice pajamas, by the way,' he said at the door, looking at the teddy bears on my pajamas.

I blushed and closed the door.

x.x.x

'Whoa!' said Vaan and Penelo, simultaneously, as the airship disappeared from sight.

'This "come in handy" often?' asked Ashe.

'That is too cool,' I said.

'It's tough being popular. Wouldn't want admirers dropping in while we're away. Well now, that's as far as she goes. We'll be in Jagd from here onwards,' said Balthier.

Vaan was talking to Penelo. I couldn't really tell whose voice was higher pitched.

'So, when you're in Jagd, Skystones don't work at all. That's why we gotta hoof it the rest of the way, ya see?' he said. As always, he talked in perfect English (not).

'Happy you get to teach me something for a change?' said Penelo, laughing.

'Well, if you want to be a Sky Pirate, you have to know your—Hey! What do you mean, "For a change"?' said Vaan. They continued to talk amongst themselves.

'At least we thought to bring entertainment,' said Balthier to me.

'Hey, I'm entertaining, aren't I?' I said, pouting. '99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer…'

Balthier sighed.

x.x.x

'So, where exactly is Raithwall's Tomb?' asked Penelo.

'Where we're going,' I said sarcastically.

'Far to the west. We must first cross the Ogir-Yensa, and beyond that the Nam-Yensa, before we reach the Tomb. An expanse of desert larger still than all of Dalmasca,' explained Basch. I gaped.

'_Larger _than Dalmasca?! Are you serious?'

'Unfortunately so,' said Balthier.

I pretended to faint, but then actually lost my balance. Balthier caught me in time. Ashe shook her head.

'We must pace ourselves. If you grow tired, we stop and take rest,' said Basch.

'Larger than Dalmasca,' I muttered. 'May Raithwall help us.'

x.x.x

I saw a figure peeping out of the corner of one of the oil tanks.

'There's someone there!' I shouted, getting out my weapon. The figure moved closer, and, oh.

It was just Vossler.

'Vossler!' said Basch.

I could hardly suppress a groan. Vossler was _so _annoying - and plus, I didn't trust him.

'It would be best to keep your opinions of Vossler from him,' whispered Balthier. I sighed.

'Why are you here?' asked Basch.

'Took the words right out of my mouth,' I muttered.

'Imagine my surprise…when upon my return to Bhujerba, I find both you and the Lady Ashe have vanished. I thought you above consorting with Sky Pirates,' said Vossler.

You see why I find him so annoying?

1. He only cares the Basch and the "Lady Ashe" have vanished. No, it doesn't matter that her twin sister, _me_, has vanished as well.

2. He doesn't like Balthier. Or Fran.

3. He's just plain annoying.

'There's nothing wrong with sky pirates,' I shouted at him. He looked at me.

'Ah, the Lady Aire is here as well,' he said. Grrr. He only just noticed.

Balthier sensed my anger and put a hand on my shoulder.

'Calm _down_,' he whispered.

'Balthier is a man worthy of our trust,' said Basch.

'Damn right!' I shouted, despite his hand on me.

'And it was their decision. I am content to lend my arm. As I could not when Rasler died, when the Empire chased Lady Aire, when their throne was taken. Never again. I will defend them this time,' said Basch.

'You walk the knight's path. The Lady Ashe?' said Vossler.

He walked towards my sister, and she obviously seemed pleased to see him. Urgh. How could she stand such an annoying man?

Balthier and Fran were at the edge of the rail, looking over. I joined them.

'He's so _annoying_!' I said.

'I agree,' said Fran. I was shocked for a moment. Fran and I hardly ever talked - in fact, she hardly ever talked to anyone.

'A princess must learn to put up with all kinds of people,' said Balthier.

'Ergh,' I said. 'I hope there aren't too many Vosslers in Dalmasca.'

Balthier chuckled.

'I would have to agree with you on that,' he said.


	18. XVII: I'm a Man

'Wait,' said Balthier, holding me back. The others stopped as well, and we hid behind a tree. I gasped as several creatures trekked across the landscape. They looked like humans at first glance… but as I looked closer it was evident that they weren't.

'Urutan-Yensas,' he said, 'inhabitants of the Sandsea.'

'Gah,' I said, 'how can anyone bear living here? It's so hot!'

'Shhh!' said Vossler, as the Urutan-Yensas left.

I glared at him.

'Why are we hiding again?' I asked Balthier.

'The Urutan-Yensas,' he said, 'they are unfond of visitors.'

I nodded.

As the Yensas left, we went back out into the open and started our journey. We reached a small area, and found a moogle sitting down. I couldn't believe someone else was here - people would have to be crazy to be out here.

Makes me think about the sanity of our group.

'Kupo!' he said, running to us. 'There was just an Urutan-Yensa-' he said.

'And?' asked Balthier.

'He wanted help! Something about a turtle that eats Yensas, kupo! He went off looking for a reward for someone who defeated it, kupo! Maybe you could?'

He looked back to us for confirmation. We nodded.

'Yes… ok,' he said, 'where is this turtle?' he asked.

'In the Nam-Yensa Sandsea, kupo!' the moogle said, pointing to its left.

Balthier nodded.

x.x.x

'Why are we doing this again?' I asked, as we started crossing the Nam-Yensa Sandsea.

'The reward,' said Balthier, simply. 'Might be worth something.'

I laughed.

'Typical sky pirate mentality,' I said.

'You think that's it?' asked Ashe, pointing to a massive turtle. It bent down and ate a Yensa.

'Probably,' I said, running over to it. 'Come on!'

We took out our weapons and started attacking the turtle. Even though we were hacking away at its shell - it paid no notice and kept eating the Yensas around us.

This was helpful - we didn't get damaged at all. After a few minutes of hitting one spot, a crack appeared - and spread rapidly. Next thing, the shell had fallen off completely and the turtle lay dead on the ground.

'Too easy,' said Balthier. I nodded.

'Not even a scratch!' I agreed.

'Don't think the Yensas can say the same,' said Ashe.

I nodded.

'Well, now to claim the reward,' said Balthier, heading back to where the moogle was.

x.x.x

We strutted happily back into the area, but stopped as we saw an assembly of Urutan-Yensas.

'What's happening?' I asked Balthier, as we hid behind a tree.

'They're going to execute him,' he said gravely.

'Who?' I asked.

'The Yensa who asked for help,' he said. I gasped.

He nodded. What looked like the queen of the Yensas waved her arm, and the Yensa was devoured in fire.

'That's-' I said, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

'Evil?' answered Vaan. I nodded.

'There's nothing you can do about it,' said Balthier.

'I know… but it just seems wrong!' I said. He nodded.

'It is wrong,' he agreed.

The assembly left and we talked to the moogle.

'They executed him, kupo!' said the moogle.'

I saw a bunch of pretty blue flowers growing from where the Yensa was executed.

'Is it just me or did those flowers only spring up when he died?' I asked.

'Well, at least there's something to remember him by,' said Balthier.

x.x.x

'Balthieeeeeeeeeer,' I whined.

'What is it?' he asked.

'It's so hooooooooooot,' I whined. We'd been walking across the Sandsea for almost 4 hours now - AFTER the Yensa incident, and everyone was sweating. Ashe had already ditched her top layer, and Balthier had taken off his white shirt and was wearing only his vest. Vaan was piggybacking Penelo. Lucky her.

'What do you want me to do about it?' he said. 'I can't Blizzara the whole place.'

I groaned.

'I know - but can't we stooooooop?' I asked. Vossler shook his head, and I stuck out my tongue at him.

'We cannot stop now, we must keep going,' said Basch.

'But I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiiired,' I said.

'Maybe we should,' said Ashe, who was fanning herself with her hands.

'There's some shade over there by the tree,' I said, pointing. Vossler sighed.

'Ok, we'll take a break,' said Balthier.

'Yay!' I said, running over to the shade. We all squeezed under the shade of the tree, though it was a tight fit.

Ashe sighed a sigh of relief, and so did Vaan.

'Thanks Vaan,' said Penelo. He grunted.

I sat next to Balthier, and leaned against the tree trunk.

'Night,' I said. 'I'm going to sleep.'

And with that, I conked out.

x.x.x

Balthier chuckled slightly as Aire fell asleep.

'She thinks _she's_ tired,' complained Vaan. 'She didn't have to piggyback someone halfway across the desert!' said Vaan, casting Penelo a dirty look. She simply smiled cheekily.

'You're a _boy_, Vaan. You should be able to do these things,' teased Balthier. 'Especially for ladies.'

He felt something heavy on his shoulder, and saw Aire resting her head on his shoulder. He sighed, reaching up to push it away.

'Hey Balthier,' said Vaan. 'You're a _boy. _You should be able to do these things. Especially for _ladies_,' he teased. Penelo laughed.

Balthier sighed.

'No Vaan. _You're_ a boy. I'm a man.'


	19. XVIII: Quickenings

'The tomb of Raithwall,' I whispered, looking up at the massive building which stood ahead of us.

'Aire!' shouted Balthier, tackling me to the ground.

'Hey what was that for?' I asked, spitting out dirt from my mouth. He didn't need to answer my question as I saw the massive bird which was flying above our heads.

'Oh, right,' I said, as we stood up.

I took out my assassin's dagger, then realised a problem.

Ummm, the monster was flying.

And I couldn't reach it.

'Use your magic!' said Balthier. I knocked myself on the head inwardly. Obviously that was the obvious answer.

Obvious, obvious, obvious, Aire.

I slipped the dagger back into its sheath and charged up a Dark spell.

It hit its mark, but I gaped at the amount of damage it did. It was close to nothing.

'Quickenings!' said Balthier.

'Right!' said everyone, getting ready. Balthier started the chain, seeing as he had all his magic power still with him.

I hadn't used my quickening in YEARS.

Good thing it was like riding a chocobo. You never forget.

I was curious to see what the others' quickenings would be like. Of course, I knew Ashe's, she summoned up some energy and blasted the opponent with bars of energy. And I especially liked the aftermath - everything went shiny and sparkly. She has class, my sister has.

My quickening is a bit more violent, but, if I do say so myself, stronger as well.

I summon up some energy as well, but then I make it swirl around and around the enemy, getting tighter, until the enemy is crushed (or the energy breaks).

Hah. That Garuda didn't stand a chance.

Balthier started off the chain with his quickening - he summoned six orbs of energy and blasted them at the opponent. Nice.

Next was Fran. She exerted energy with physical punches and kicks, pummelling the opponent.

Ashe was next. I smiled as her trademark quickening came into play.

I was next. I took a deep breath and started summoning the energy I needed. I focused it into a long thin strand, and wrapped it around the enemy. I could see the Garuda in distress.

The energy chain became tighter and tighter, and then broke.

Basch was next. He summoned a massive amount of energy to his hands, and then aimed it at the enemy.

Once we had all finished, the chain ended.

I was happy to see the Garuda only had a teensy little bit of life left, which we finished off with various magicks.

'Hi-five!' I said to Balthier, holding up my hand.

He hit it.

'Hi-five, Aire. Great quickening you got there,' he said.

'Thanks,' I said, 'you too.'

Now the Garuda was gone, there was time to admire the architecture of the Tomb of Raithwall.

The Tomb looked massive - maybe even larger than the palace of Dalmasca. There were many, many storeys, and a grand stairway leading to the entrance.

'Well, what are we waiting for?' I asked. 'Race you up there!' I said, sprinting for the stairs.

The others followed after - considerably slower, I must say.

'Long ago, the Gods granted their favor to King Raithwall…who would oversee the subjugation of a territory spanning from Ordalia to Valendia. Here he forged the Galtean Alliance,' said Ashe. 'Though he is called the Dynast-King… Upon establishing the Alliance, he showed compassion for his people, and disdain for war. A philosophy passed on to his successors. One that would bring peace and prosperity for hundreds of years to follow. It was during this time of peace that the city-states of Archadia and Rozarria… Each members of Raithwall's Alliance, took root and flourished. Raithwall left three relics signifying descent from the Dynast-King. Of these, the Midlight Shard was given to what would become House Nabradia…and the Dusk Shard to my ancestors, the Founders of Dalmasca. The last of these relics was the Dawn Shard,' said Aire.

'Yeah… what she said,' I said. 'Ashe paid more attention in history lessons than I did,' I said.

'In _all_ the lessons,' said Ashe, laughing. 'It remained hidden here, known only to those of Royal Blood.'

'As though the Dynast-King foresaw the very plight before us now,' said Vossler. I glared at him.

'Only his descendants are suffered within. If we enter without proof of such lineage-' said Ashe, but Balthier cut her off.

'There's no guarantee we'll make it out alive. Vicious beasts. Fiendish traps. Something like that?'

'And a heck of a lot of monsters!' I added.

Ashe nodded.

'But you must consider the prize. The Dawn Shard lies within - and Raithwall's treasure.'

'And there was I thinking this was going to be hard!' said Balthier, climbing the remaining steps. We all followed after.

'What's that?' I asked, pointing to the thing in front of us. It was some sort of statue thing - with a lamp in the middle. Right.

'A contraption you'd find in all but the most rudimentary Ancient Ruin. One touch, and off you're whisked to you know not where. The finer points of their operation elude me, but they're handy all the same. What more need a Sky Pirate know?' he said.

'Where exactly you're "whisked off" to,' I said sarcastically.

'Well, that's the point. You never know where you're going,' he said.

I groaned.

'This is going to be a very long journey,' I said.

x.x.x

'I sense something bad…' I said, looking around.

'Ease up,' said Balthier, putting a hand on my shoulder. 'It'll be alright,' he said. I heard Penelo giggling in the background.

'Or not,' said Fran, pointing to a wall down the corridor. There was a rumble, and the wall came alive.

I swore.

'Told you,' I said, to Balthier.

'Fight or run, we'd better decide fast!' said Vaan.

'Fight!' I said, pulling out my dagger.

The others followed.

'Get back, Ashe,' I said. She shook her head.

'I'll be fine!' she reassured me, and I sighed.

'Ashe - you know you're not so good with your sword yet,' I said.

'I'll watch her back, as well as yours,' said Balthier.

I sighed.

'Ok then,' I said, starting to hack at the wall. There wasn't anyone I trusted more to look after Ashe, not even myself.

x.x.x

'How can a wall come alive?' I asked Balthier, as it receded back to its original position.

'It's a tomb,' he said, 'all normal laws of reality are thrown out the window.'

I sighed.

'Well that's going to make the rest of the journey SO much easier,' I said.

We entered the next room, and I gasped.

It was a massive room - as big as the grand ballroom in the palace. And it had a seemingly endless amount of storeys - as low and high as the eye could see. There were grand staircases leading from level to level, but the most amazing thing was in the middle of the room.

In the middle of the room there was a void - where you could see all the levels, and there was also a giant statue.

Of Raithwall, presumably.

The size of his eye was around how big each of us was. And the statue was of his whole person.

It was amazing.

'Amazing, isn't it?' asked Balthier, his voice cutting into my daydream.

'Huh what? Oh yeah,' I said.

Ashe laughed.

'You always use such eloquent language,' she said sarcastically.

'Eh, whatever,' I replied.

Ashe laughed.


	20. XVIX: Warm Welcome

'Oh great…' I said, as a monster appeared, blocking the doorway through which we came.

'Don't be so surprised,' said Balthier, 'we all knew it was going to happen eventually.'

I sighed.

'Watch out, Princess!' said Vossler, to Ashe, obviously. Like he'd ever tell me to watch out.

You see?

He only cares about Ashe's wellbeing - not mine.

Together, we started to attack Belias.

'Watch Ashe's back for me, will you?' I asked Balthier. He laughed.

'Think someone's already on the job,' he said, looking over to Vossler.

We laughed.

'Now's no time for laughing!' said Vossler seriously.

I glared at Vossler. He's seriously _so_ annoying.

I won't bore you with the details of the fight - generally, after much blood, sweat and tears, the monster was defeated.

'Good job, guys!' I said.

Everyone smiled rather tiredly - except for Vossler, of course. I don't even know whether he knows how to smile.

'They arose, shouting challenges at the Gods. But prevail they did not. Their doom it was to walk the Mist until time's end. A Legend of the Nu Mou,' said Fran, as she approached the stone.

'My family tells a story of the Dynast-King and an Esper. The story goes that in his youth, the Dynast-King defeated a mighty Gigas…for which the Gods took heed of him. Thereafter, it was bound to him in Thralldom,' said Ashe.

'So all this time it's been here guarding the Dyanst-King's treasure,' said Balthier.

'Waiting for us now,' I said.

'Not so. The Esper is the Dyanst-King's treasure,' said Ashe.

'But we just defeated it! What now? Do you mean we came here for nothing?'

'No. Now we can control the Esper. In this Esper we now command rests a power whose worth is beyond any measure,' said Ashe.

'Is that so? Call me old-fashioned, but I was hoping for a treasure whose worth we COULD measure,' said Balthier. His sky pirate mentality coming into effect once more.

'Who commands the Esper, though?' I asked.

'The person who defeated it,' said Ashe.

'But we all did!'

'If a large number of people have defeated it, the person who dealt the last blow controls the Esper,' said Ashe.

'And who was that?' I asked, as everyone looked around.

'It was you, Ashe, wasn't it?' asked Balthier. Ashe nodded.

'So you control the Esper now?' I asked Ashe. She nodded again.

'Cool! So you can call that Belias thing up whenever we want to fight for us?' I asked.

'In general, yes,' said Ashe. 'But-'

'Cool!' I said. We proceeded to the next room - where there was a stone on a pedestal.

'And what's this, if the Esper was the only treasure of the King?' I asked.

'I guess the Esper wasn't the only thing there,' said Balthier.

Ashe didn't answer. She was in a world of her own.

'Rasler…' she whispered. I looked around. Rasler was nowhere to be seen.

'You will be avenged,' said Ashe, taking the stone.

'We must go, your majesty,' said Vossler. Ashe nodded.

'We shall leave at once.'

I skipped out of the tomb, happy as ever. Until, that is, I saw a whole fleet of airships swarming above us, Imperials waiting on the steps along with Ghis.

I swore.

'What a warm welcome,' commented Balthier sarcastically.


End file.
